Balance Sheet

You've probably heard "balance sheet" used to describe a company's finances - but the same idea applies just as well to you personally! It's simply a summary of your financial position at a point in time: everything you own (assets) against everything you owe (liabilities), which together tell you your net worth.

The formula is simple: Assets - Liabilities = Net Worth

• Assets - everything of value you hold, like cash and savings, super, shares and investments, property, and vehicles.
• Liabilities - everything you owe, like your mortgage, HECS/HELP debt, car loans, and credit card balances.

Unlike a cashflow statement, which tracks money moving in and out over a period (e.g. a month or a year), a balance sheet is a snapshot - it captures where you stand at one specific moment, not the flow of money over time. Both matter: cashflow tells you if you're on track day-to-day, while your balance sheet shows the cumulative result of every financial decision you've made along the way.

In Canwi, your balance sheet updates as you move through your plan - every simulated life event (buying property, paying down debt, investing in shares) shifts the assets and liabilities that make up your net worth, which is what drives your net worth chart over time. On the Plan Tables page, the balance sheet shown for each year is taken as at the end of that calendar year - so it reflects your projected position on 31 December, not an average or mid-year figure.