Few people keep all their savings in one place. A time deposit at one bank, a current account at another, some gold in a drawer, a few hundred dollars, money lent to a friend, and on the other side a credit card and instalments. When each sits in a different app or place, it gets hard to know how much money you have in total.
Yet that total is the starting point of every financial decision.
Net worth: your finances in one number
The way to sum up your finances in a single number is net worth:
Net worth = Everything you own + What you’re owed − What you owe
Income and expenses show what happened in a month; net worth shows the whole picture built up so far. Checking whether your net worth rose each month is the simplest answer to “Did this month go well?”
An example
All these items belong to the same person. The prices are illustrative:
| Item | Amount | Value in TL |
|---|---|---|
| Current account | ₺40,000 | ₺40,000 |
| Time deposit | ₺300,000 | ₺300,000 |
| Gold | 20 grams × ₺4,000 | ₺80,000 |
| US dollars | $1,000 × ₺42 | ₺42,000 |
| Money lent to a friend | ₺15,000 | ₺15,000 |
| Credit card debt | −₺35,000 | −₺35,000 |
| Net worth | ₺442,000 |
This person might think “I have ₺300,000 in deposits”. The real picture is different: total assets of ₺477,000 and a net worth of ₺442,000. About 26% of their savings sits outside TL, in gold and dollars, and that part’s value changes every day with prices.
What price should gold and currency be valued at?
There is no single price for gold or currency, and the price you use changes the result.
- Buy and sell prices differ. Banks and jewellers sell higher and buy lower. The gap (the spread) is especially wide for physical gold. If you sold your gold today, you’d get less than the advertised selling price.
- Official reference. The CBRT publishes indicative exchange rates every business day. They are a reference, not a trading price.
- Be consistent. If you value with the same kind of price every month, the change in your net worth reflects real change; switch price sources and the change misleads.
Why knowing the total matters
- You see how exposed you are to inflation. The share sitting in a current account or in cash melts fastest when inflation is high. See How to save when inflation is high.
- You see your allocation. Knowing how much of your assets is in TL, gold or currency shows how much a swing in one price would affect you. Which allocation suits you is your decision, but you can’t make it without knowing your current one.
- You look at goals realistically. “How far am I from the down payment?” can’t be answered without knowing your total savings.
- You see your debt too. Card debt and instalments get forgotten when tracked apart from assets. Net worth puts them together.
- You confirm your emergency fund stays separate. See Emergency fund.
How often should you look?
Daily is unnecessary; gold and currency prices move during the day and the noise is confusing. Once a month, say on payday or at month end, on the same day and with the same price source, is enough. What matters isn’t one month’s figure but the direction over months.
How Kartopu calculates it
Kartopu rolls your assets into one snowball:
- Add your records. Time deposits, gold, foreign currency, bank accounts, income, expenses, debts and receivables. Start with a little and fill in over time.
- Gold and currency are valued at current prices. When online, the app downloads current exchange rates and gold/silver prices from public sources. No information about you is sent in these requests.
- See your allocation and net worth. The Status screen shows the total and how your assets are spread at a glance.
- Track it month by month. The monthly view shows which record changed when and where your net worth is heading.
You can also add records by telling Karto “I have 20 grams of gold” or “My card debt this month is 35,000”. Karto shows a draft, and no record changes until you approve. Everything stays on your phone; your records never go to a server.
Sources
- CBRT, Indicative Exchange Rates.
- TurkStat (TÜİK), Consumer Price Index.
This article is general information, not investment advice. The gold and currency prices in the example are illustrative.