Net Worth is an important concept for your students to grasp. It is basically calculated as assets (think savings accounts, investment accounts, a home, a car) minus liabilities (car loan, mortgage, credit card debt). 

This chart from Flowing Data introduces this concept of net worth and shows how it varies by age:

Questions:

• What are examples of financial assets? 
• When does debt (red bars) hit its peak? Can you explain why? 
• When do assets peak (green bars) for individuals? Can you explain how assets grow over one's lifetime? 
• Between what ages do assets seem to have the largest increase? 
• At what age does the median amount asset value exceed $100,000? 
• Why do you think that assets seem to remain steady after the age of 65? 

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Want your students to analyze more graphs with a personal finance angle? Better check out the NGPF Data Crunch. 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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