Beyond Your Checking Account: The Best Apps for Tracking Your Net Worth
Ask someone how they're doing financially, and you'll usually hear about their income.
Maybe their salary went up. Maybe they're paying down debt. Maybe they're trying to save more each month.
All useful information.
But if you really want to understand your financial position, there's a different number worth paying attention to: your net worth.
Think of it as the scoreboard for your financial life.
Unlike a budget, which shows where your money is flowing each month, net worth tells you where you've actually arrived. It combines everything you own—cash, investments, retirement accounts, property, even certain alternative assets—and subtracts everything you owe.
The result isn't always pretty.
But it's honest.
And over time, watching that number trend upward can be one of the most motivating financial habits you develop.
The good news? You no longer need a complicated spreadsheet that requires a monthly date with formulas and frustration. Modern financial apps can connect to your accounts, update balances automatically, and give you a real-time snapshot of your overall financial picture.
If you're ready to move beyond simply tracking spending, these are the platforms worth considering.
1. Empower (iOS & Android)
For years, Empower—formerly known as Personal Capital—has been the recommendation that keeps coming up whenever serious investors talk about free financial tools.
There's a reason for that.
While many money apps focus primarily on budgeting, Empower is built around wealth tracking.
Why It Stands Out
The investment tools are where Empower really earns its reputation.
Connect your retirement accounts, brokerage accounts, savings accounts, and other assets, and the platform pulls everything into a single dashboard. Suddenly, instead of juggling five different logins, you can see your financial life in one place.
Its Investment Checkup feature is particularly useful.
Rather than simply reporting balances, it helps you understand how your portfolio is allocated, highlights potential concentration risks, and shines a light on investment fees that might be quietly eating into your long-term returns.
Those small percentages matter more than most people realize.
What You'll Like
Completely free
Excellent investment tracking
Strong retirement-planning tools
Handles a wide variety of assets
Clear long-term performance reporting
Where It Falls Short
If your idea of financial management involves assigning every dollar a specific job, Empower may feel a bit light on budgeting features.
And because the company also offers advisory services, some users report occasional outreach from financial advisors.
2. Monarch Money (iOS & Android)
Some financial apps feel like software.
Monarch feels more like a financial command center.
Everything is polished, organized, and intentionally designed to make complicated finances feel manageable.
Why It Stands Out
Monarch excels at bringing multiple financial responsibilities together under one roof.
Budgeting. Investments. Savings goals. Net worth tracking.
It's all there.
Where Monarch really separates itself is in how it handles shared finances.
For couples and families, money management often becomes a communication challenge as much as a financial one. Monarch allows partners to view the same dashboard, monitor shared goals, and track household progress without turning every financial conversation into a spreadsheet review session.
What You'll Like
Clean, modern interface
Excellent household collaboration features
Strong account connectivity
Customizable dashboards
No advertising clutter
Where It Falls Short
Monarch is a premium product, and that means paying for access.
For users who simply want a basic net-worth calculator, the subscription may feel unnecessary.
3. Kubera (Web & Mobile)
Most financial apps are built around traditional assets.
Checking accounts. Brokerage accounts. Retirement funds.
Kubera takes a different approach.
It's designed for people whose financial lives don't fit neatly inside standard categories.
Why It Stands Out
Imagine trying to calculate your net worth when it includes cryptocurrency, private investments, domain names, precious metals, vehicles, real estate, and accounts spread across multiple countries.
That's exactly the kind of complexity Kubera was built for.
The platform acts as a centralized inventory of wealth, allowing users to track an unusually broad range of assets from a single dashboard.
It's less focused on daily budgeting and more focused on answering one question:
"What is everything I own actually worth right now?"
For high-net-worth individuals and serious investors, that's an incredibly valuable perspective.
What You'll Like
Supports traditional and alternative assets
Strong cryptocurrency tracking
Global currency support
No ads or data-selling business model
Clean, professional experience
Where It Falls Short
Kubera is expensive compared to mainstream financial apps.
And if your finances are relatively straightforward, many of its advanced capabilities may go unused.
Which One Makes the Most Sense?
The answer depends on what you're trying to measure.
Choose Empower if your primary focus is investing and long-term wealth building. It's one of the strongest free options available and offers tools that rival many paid platforms.
Choose Monarch Money if you're managing finances with a spouse or partner and want one place to track spending, savings, investments, and net worth together.
Choose Kubera if your portfolio extends beyond traditional accounts and includes assets that most financial apps struggle to track.
A Final Thought on Net Worth
Many people avoid tracking their net worth because they're afraid of what they'll see.
Maybe student loans still loom large. Maybe retirement savings aren't where they should be. Maybe the number simply isn't as impressive as they'd hoped.
That's okay.
The purpose of tracking net worth isn't to impress anyone.
It's to establish a starting point.
Because once you know the number, you can improve it.
And over time, something interesting happens. You stop obsessing over short-term financial noise and start paying attention to the bigger picture.
Not what you earned this month.
Not what you spent this week.
But whether your overall financial position is moving in the right direction.
That's the number that tends to matter most.