Know What You Have: Your One-Page Money Map

The story: Ruth puts it all on one page

Ruth gathers statements from drawers and a shoebox onto one page while neighbor Walt shares how Walt and Grace keep theirs.

1. Narrator: Ruth has statements in three drawers, an old retirement-plan letter in a shoebox and passwords on sticky notes.
2. Ruth: If something happened to me, nobody could find any of this. Some days I can’t either.
3. Walt: Grace and I put ours on one page. It took an afternoon. Now we update it every January.
4. Narrator: A one-page map lists every account, every income, every debt and where the key papers are kept.
5. Ruth: Own minus owe… my net worth is higher than I guessed. That feels good to know.
6. Narrator: No passwords on the page. Just a note of where they’re kept safely, and one trusted person who knows where the map is.
7. Narrator: One page, everything you have, updated once a year. It doubles as a map for your family.

What you’ll learn

1. Own minus owe

   Net worth is what you own minus what you owe. Add up your accounts, your home’s value and other things worth money, then subtract mortgages, loans and card balances. It’s a snapshot, not a score.

   Example: $310,000 owned minus $40,000 owed = $270,000 net worth.

2. Every account, every income

   For each account, note where it is, which tax bucket it’s in and a rough balance. For each income, note the amount, when it starts and whether it rises with prices. Rough numbers are fine; the point is a full list.

3. Debts, papers and beneficiaries

   List each debt with its rate and payment. Note where your will, insurance policies and deeds are kept, and who is named as beneficiary on each account. Beneficiary forms often decide who gets an account, even over a will.

4. Update it once a year

   Pick a date you’ll remember, like your birthday or New Year’s Day, and refresh the page. Tell one trusted person where it is. Leave passwords off the page; note instead where they are kept safely.

Key words

net worth

what you own minus what you owe

Also called: balance sheet

statement

an account’s regular report card

beneficiary

who gets an account when you die

Common questions

What if I can’t find an old account?

Many people have one. Search your state’s unclaimed property list for free (unclaimed.org links to every state), and use Treasury Hunt at TreasuryDirect for old savings bonds. A lesson on finding forgotten money is coming.

Should I write my passwords on the page?

No. Write where your passwords are kept safely, such as a password manager or a locked drawer, so the page itself is safe if someone else sees it.

Remember this

One page, everything you have, updated once a year.

Try it: Make your one-page money map

1. List every account with its tax bucket and a rough balance.
2. List each income and each debt.
3. Note your beneficiaries and where your key papers are kept.
4. Tell one trusted person where the page is.

No account: use the public Net Worth Calculator (/tools/net-worth-calculator), or print the list from this lesson’s game and fill in your own page.