Tracking Net Worth Across Multiple Currencies

If you've lived or worked in more than one country, your money probably sits in more than one currency. A salary account in euros, savings in dollars, a flat back home priced in Egyptian pounds, a brokerage account that holds US shares. Adding these up is easy. Making sense of the total is harder, because exchange rates keep changing it.

Pick one base currency

You need a single currency to report your total in. Choose the one you'll spend in the future. That's usually where you plan to live, or retire.

• Living in Germany and planning to stay: euros.
• Working in the Gulf but planning to return to Egypt: arguably Egyptian pounds, though many people in that position think in dollars because their savings are in dollars.
• Not sure: pick the currency of your biggest expenses today, and revisit later.

There's no wrong answer, but switching base currency often makes your history hard to compare. Pick one and stick with it.

Exchange rates can swamp your savings

Say you live in Germany and keep 50,000 dollars in a US brokerage account. If the dollar weakens by 10% against the euro, your net worth in euros drops by about 10% of that holding, even though nothing happened to your investments.

Sometimes the move is far bigger. On 6 March 2024, Egypt let its currency float, and the official rate went from roughly 31 to around 50 pounds per US dollar within a day (The National). Someone holding dollar savings and measuring in Egyptian pounds saw their net worth jump by more than half. Someone holding pound savings and measuring in dollars saw it shrink by more than a third.

Neither person got richer or poorer through their own actions. That's why it helps to know how much of a change comes from currency alone.

Three numbers worth watching

1. Total in your base currency: the headline figure.
2. Currency mix: what share of your net worth is in each currency. If 80% is in one currency and you spend in another, you're carrying currency risk, whether you meant to or not.
3. Change at constant exchange rates (if your tool shows it, or roughly by hand): how much your net worth moved if rates had stayed where they were last month. That's your real progress.

Practical tips

Record each asset in its own currency: the Egyptian bank account in EGP, the US shares in USD. Let the tracker convert. Convert by hand and you can no longer see what the exchange rate did.

Use the same rate source on the same day each time, or you'll create small fake movements. Debts need the same treatment. A mortgage in one currency and a salary in another is a real risk, so track the loan in its own currency.

Property follows its local currency, too. A flat in Cairo is priced in pounds even if you think about it in dollars.

Is currency risk bad?

Not necessarily. Holding several currencies can be a sensible hedge, especially if your future is uncertain or your home currency has a history of devaluing. The point is to choose the mix on purpose. Is my portfolio diversified? covers currency exposure alongside the other kinds.

How NetWorthy handles it

Each asset and debt keeps its own currency. You choose a display currency for your totals, and NetWorthy converts using daily exchange rates. Your history stays in your base currency, so you can see what changed. If you're starting from scratch, try the net worth calculator first. It supports euros, dollars, pounds, Swiss francs, Egyptian pounds, dirhams and riyals.