Our Net Worth at 40 (Real Numbers + Breakdown + Financial Independence Progress)

If you had asked me 10 years ago about my net worth at 40, I probably would’ve asked what that even means. Today, it’s one of the most important numbers in our lives. But not because of the number itself. Because of what it tells us.

So in this post, we’re doing something most people don’t: We’re sharing our real numbers. Everything!

• Our debt and investments
• Our exact income, expenses, and savings rate
• How our net worth growth has evolved over time
• The net worth milestones we’re working toward
• And how far we’ve come on our financial independence journey

Before we get into the numbers, one quick thing: The real value isn’t the net worth number itself—it’s seeing how it changes over time. Because when things get hard on your financial independence journey, seeing your progress clearly can change everything. I’ve experienced that myself recently when thinking about our net worth at 40.

That’s exactly why we built a simple financial ledger to track everything in one place—and I’ll show you how it works along the way.

💡 Before We Start— easily determine your net worth — launch the financial ledger.

How Knowing Our Net Worth at 40 Saved Our FI Journey

“Are we really the kind of family that can’t even afford a decent car for five people? And, why can’t we finally renovate our bathroom?” That’s what I said to Marc recently—half joking, half frustrated. It felt like everyone around us was upgrading their lives: nicer cars, beautifully renovated homes, perfect interiors. And there we were… still driving one old small car and putting off renovations.

For a moment, I even caught myself thinking: Why aren’t we earning more? Even though I was the one who wanted us both to work part-time—despite our financial independence journey.

But the real problem wasn’t our situation. It was this: I had forgotten how far we’d already come. Because the kind of wealth we’ve built… you can’t see it.

No one sees our investment portfolio (~170,000 today, built from ~100,000 invested).
No one knows how much of our mortgage we’ve already paid down (~190,000 on top of our initial ~100,000 down payment).
No one sees what a 600k net worth at 40 actually feels like—or the ~390,000 we chose to invest instead of spend since 2016.

And honestly? It feels better than any car or bathroom ever could.

What Is Net Worth?

Your net worth is the difference between what you own (assets like cash, investments, and property) and what you owe (debts like loans or a mortgage).

It’s one of the simplest ways to measure financial success and progress—and it largely depends on your lifestyle choices.

Our Net Worth at 40: Full Breakdown with Real Numbers

So here’s our net worth at 40 after about six years on our financial independence journey – the following numbers represent our averages, not what each year looked like, because this varied a lot over the years (which included 2 shorter parental leaves, and one 2-year-long parental leave with little allowance):

• Average household income (after taxes): ~6,800/month (~82,000/year)
• Savings rate 55% – 65% (dropping to ~30-40% during parental leave)
• Monthly investments (including mortgage): ~4,103
• Investment portfolio: ~170,000
• Mortgage paid down: ~190,000
• Total invested (portfolio + mortgage): ~295,000
  (Portfolio: ~16,800/year, ~1,400/month | Mortgage: ~32,500/year, ~2,710/month)
• Current net worth: ~600,000 (compared to less than 15,000 in 2015)
• Average return (across stocks and real estate): ~15%

What Made the Biggest Difference

To reach this net worth at 40, three things mattered most. In fact, they helped offset many of the challenges we faced along the way (more on that below—see “the reality behind the numbers”).

A High Savings Rate

The savings rate is the percentage of your income that you save or invest.

An average savings rate is around 10–15%, while 15–20% is often recommended by financial professionals.
A high savings rate is anything above 20-30%, often used by those pursuing financial independence.

We saved between 55% and 65% of our income for most of those years—and invested it in the stock market and real estate (our home, which we plan to sell or rent out eventually). That made a huge difference in accelerating our net worth at 40.

However, to give you a more realistic picture, we’re currently in a transition year due to parental leave, where our savings rate has dropped to around 30-40%.

Looking ahead, we don’t expect to return to a 50% savings rate immediately—but we’re getting close.

That is a good reminder that progress doesn’t require perfection—just consistency over time, even through changing life phases.

Staying Invested

We achieved around 15% average returns (IRR), across stocks and real estate, with a TTWROR (True Time Weighted Rate of Return) of 118% over six years.

Even during market downturns—like the corona crisis—we stayed invested and never sold out of panic. And over time, our portfolio didn’t just recover. It went on to reach new all-time highs.

Real Estate Leverage

Our property increased from ~650,000 to over 850,000 in six years.

On paper that’s around 3.5–4% annual appreciation, but the real story is leverage: we only put down around 100,000 in cash, so that 200,000 gain represents a roughly 200% return on our actual equity — closer to 17% annualized. Not bad for a place we also get to live in. Combined with mortgage pay-down, our equity increased by about 300,000–400,000.

I’d even say our home significantly accelerated our net worth at 40 (more in the FAQs below).

The Reality Behind the Numbers

It wasn’t always easy.

We experienced:

• High inflation
• Rising costs
• Reduced income during parental leave

Considering the surge in inflation (nearly 7% in 2022 and 6% in 2023), many of our everyday expenses increased significantly—especially childcare and food, which nearly doubled. At the same time, our income dropped while I was on parental leave for two years.

Yet, we stayed committed to one thing: maintaining a high savings rate. Looking back, that’s what made the difference. I can confidently say that consistency mattered far more than perfect conditions for our net worth at 40.

What to Do When Your Net Worth Doesn’t Change Much

I know the feeling. You’re doing everything right—and still, your net worth barely moves.

I’ve been on parental leave for almost four years and only recently returned to my corporate job. During that time, our progress toward financial independence often felt frustratingly slow. Some of our expenses nearly doubled, while our income dropped significantly. I go deeper into this in my recent post, 7 Financial Independence Stages That Changed My Life.

However, at the same time, Marc and I consciously chose a different path. We both work part-time to spend more time with our kids and as a family. We’ve also been building this blog for over two years—even though it’s far from supporting our family financially.

Not the “fastest” path to financial independence—or to a high net worth at 40. But for us, the most balanced and realistic one.

Still, our slow net worth growth led to a few emotional moments and tough conversations. Because let’s be honest—we’re human. What helped me the most was this: Zooming out and looking at our net worth growth over time. Even small progress, when visible, made a huge difference. It shifted my mindset and brought back a sense of control.

And that’s exactly why tracking your net worth matters. Seeing your progress clearly—even when it feels slow—can change everything.

Our Net Worth Growth (Year by Year)

I’m sharing our full net worth picture—from when we started tracking in 2015 until today—so you can see how we reached our net worth at 40. Even though our financial independence journey officially began in 2020, I think it’s important to highlight this:

Our real financial journey started much earlier—with our very first savings goal: paying for our wedding ourselves.

After that, we were hooked on saving to achieve our goals—there was no turning back.

Want the full breakdown (assets, debt, savings rate, and projections)—year by year?
We share every detail here:
https://timeandmoneytree.com/financial-ledger/

The Net Worth Milestones That Actually Matter

Most net worth milestones you see online (like 100k or 1M) are arbitrary.

What actually mattered for us were the moments when things started to accelerate:
reaching our first 100k net worth milestone, then seeing it grow to 300k—and eventually 500k and beyond—much faster than we expected as compounding kicked in.

That’s when we realized: our money started working harder than we did.

These are the milestones that truly shifted our trajectory—and why they matter more than headline numbers.

Our Financial Independence Net Worth Target

For us, financial independence isn’t vague—it’s a clear number. Based on our income and expenses, we’re targeting a net worth of around 850k within the next 3–4 years.

This includes:

• ~350k in our stock market portfolio
• ~350k remaining mortgage (low-interest debt)

As you can see above, a big part of our net worth is tied to our home—located near one of the most expensive cities in Europe. Here’s how we calculated our number—and how you can find yours.

How We Track Our Net Worth (Free Tool)

We don’t rely on rough estimates—we track everything. Every number you’ve seen in this post—our net worth, savings rate, and future projections—comes from one place.

The same financial ledger we use to track our entire journey… and the one you can use for free. If you want to see where you really stand—and where you’re heading—this is where it starts.

Frequently Asked Questions on “Financial Independence Net Worth vs. Portfolio”

Want to explore your own path to financial independence today? Start here with our “Financial Freedom Pathfinder” to compare different Semi-FI paths side by side.