Your home absolutely counts toward your net worth, but counting it toward your retirement nest egg requires a little more finesse. A mortgage-free house can represent a huge chunk of wealth, yet a roof over your head cannot exactly wander into the grocery store and pay for a cart of food.
That distinction matters because retirement planning revolves around usable resources, not just impressive numbers on a spreadsheet. Someone with $700,000 in investments and a $400,000 house sits in a very different position from someone with $200,000 in investments and a $900,000 house, even though both households might report $1.1 million in total net worth.
