Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on Boldin.
When you think about your financial future, you probably picture a number: the sum of your savings, investments, and home equity, minus your debts. That’s your net worth.
But here’s the problem: that number only tells part of the story.
Net worth is a widely used financial metric, but it’s also a limited one. It undercounts the assets and guarantees that provide true long-term financial stability.
If you’re not including Social Security, Medicare, potential inheritance, or other earned-but-not-liquid benefits, you’re underestimating what your future can look like.
Traditional Net Worth Omits Valuable Resources
Net worth calculations are typically straightforward:
- Assets: Cash, savings, investment accounts, retirement funds, real estate, and business interests.
- Liabilities: Mortgages, credit card balances, student loans, and other debts.
That math gives you a snapshot of your current financial standing. But it leaves out some of the most financially significant resources — your future benefits and income streams.
These often-overlooked assets include:
- Social Security
- Medicare and Medicaid
- Pensions
- Potential inheritance
- Employer stock grants or restricted stock units (RSUs)
- Life insurance
- A spouse’s benefits or assets
These aren’t “spendable” today, but they could be worth hundreds of thousands, even millions, over your lifetime.
Net Worth: Overused and Incomplete
Net worth gets used everywhere — as a personal scoreboard, a retirement readiness test, or even a way to compare yourself to others. But it was never designed to measure future financial security. It tells you what’s in your portfolio, not what’s coming to support you over the next 20–30 years.
By focusing only on today’s assets and liabilities, net worth undercalculates your true financial flexibility. It excludes the guaranteed income and healthcare protections that reduce the amount you need to save or spend.
That’s not just misleading — it can cause people to work longer, save more, or delay retirement unnecessarily.
Use the Boldin Retirement Planner to track your net worth over time. See today’s net worth as well as your net worth at retirement, longevity, and every year in between.
Why Are Hidden Assets Left Out of Net Worth Calculations?
Most of these resources are excluded from traditional net worth calculations because they’re not liquid or directly owned:
- Social Security is a monthly income stream, not a balance you can withdraw.
- Medicare and Medicaid don’t show up in your accounts, but they drastically reduce future healthcare costs.
- Inheritance is uncertain in both timing and amount — even if it’s likely.
- Pensions may not be vested or guaranteed until retirement.
- Spousal benefits may depend on future choices or eligibility.
These are technically not “assets” on a balance sheet, but they absolutely function as financial support. Ignoring them means missing the full picture.
What If You Counted Everything?
Let’s look at how much these hidden assets could add to a typical 60-year-old’s net worth, using three scenarios: low, medium, and high benefit cases.
Social Security
- Low case (Early claiming, $1,500/month): About $250,000
- Medium case ($2,500/month at full retirement age): About $450,000
- High case (Delayed claiming, $4,000/month): About $700,000+
Medicare and Medicaid
- Low case (minimal healthcare use): About $100,000
- Medium case (standard Medicare use): About $300,000
- High case (Medicaid-funded long-term care and Medicare): About $600,000 or more
Pension (if you have one)
- Low case ($1,000/month): About $200,000
- Medium case ($2,500/month): About $500,000
- High case ($5,000/month): About $1 million or more
Inheritance (potential)
While difficult to predict, over 70% of baby boomers and Gen Xers expect to receive some inheritance. Here’s a rough breakdown:
- Low case (modest inheritance): About $50,000
- Medium case (from parents with home equity and retirement accounts): About $200,000
- High case (multi-property, invested estate): $500,000 or more
Keep in mind: inheritance timing and taxes vary widely.
Other hidden assets
- Employer stock options or RSUs: $50,000–$500,000 or more
- Spouse’s pension or Social Security: $100,000–$1 million
- Life insurance with cash value: $10,000–$100,000
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