What is the goal of your workflow? What problem does it solve, or how does it help you?
I often resell items I’ve purchased when I no longer need it, or have upgraded to a better version. Because of this, I tend to see the embedded value in some of my assets, and I’d like to be able to track that value as part of my Net Worth. After all, I could sell many of my assets, converting them to cash, which would then clearly be part of my Net Worth.
How did you come up with the idea for your workflow?
I had previously brought up the topic here, and have worked on a few different methods of accomplishing it, but the one I’m using now is the easiest to use and to setup.
Please describe your workflow. What are the sheets? Does it use any custom scripts or formulas?
I first added a manual account called ‘Small Assets’ (I have separate manual accounts for large assets like ‘Home’ and vehicles). I then added a column to my Transactions worksheet, and named it ‘Value’. For any transaction that reflects something I’d consider a sellable asset, I add what I think I could sell it for. For example, I recently purchased a freezer. For the credit card transaction, in the Value column I put $500.00, assuming I should be able to get at least that much back selling it used. This is obviously something that needs to be revisited periodically, as the value is likely to decrease or increase over time, depending on the asset. Some assets values would also need to be removed once the asset was sold.
With all the values established, you could just select the column and see what the ‘sum’ of the value, but I realized my transactions are only reflecting some of my assets. I have many other ‘small assets’ that I don’t want to have to create manual accounts for to track. To solve this, I created a ‘Small Assets’ sheet with two sections.
In the ‘Manually Entered Assets’ section, I enter the information for any assets that don’t appear in my transactions, either because they were purchased before my transactions were started, or maybe they don’t have a transaction (created a new asset from scratch, etc). I then have a ‘Combined Assets’ section that uses a query to look both at the Manually Entered Assets, and any transactions with an assigned Value in the Transactions sheet. It combines these into one list, and displays the total ‘Cost’ of all the assets, as well as the total ‘Value’ of the assets.
You can periodically update your ‘Small Assets’ manual account with the current value displayed in your ‘Small Assets’ sheet, and that value will be displayed on your Balances sheet, and will be reflected in your Net Worth!
Anything else you’d like people to know?
To use this, copy the ‘Small Assets’ sheet from the template below to your Foundation Template. Add a column for ‘Value’ to the right of the ‘Amount’ column in the Transactions sheet.
Is it ok for others to copy, use, and modify your workflow?
Yes, and would appreciate feedback and ideas for improvement!
If you said yes above, please make a copy of your workflow and share the copy’s URL: