Plumbline
What a statement needs from you
Before you gather anything

A number without a date is not a valuation.

This is the whole list. Nothing here is a form and there is nothing to fill in — it is what a Plumbline statement is built from, published so you can see the method before you decide anything. Most households can gather it in an afternoon.

01 · The thing to understand first

It is the dates, not the numbers

Almost everyone can find their balances. Far fewer can say when each one was true, and that is the difference between a statement and a guess.

What we need

“$284,600, on the statement dated 31 July.”

This can be aged. In November it is 123 days old and still inside the rule. In March it is flagged, and you will see it flagged.

What does not work

“About $285,000, give or take.”

There is no date, so there is no way to know whether it is current. It cannot be aged, checked, or defended — so it does not go on the statement as though it were fact.

The 180-day rule. Any figure older than 180 days is flagged on the finished statement and visually distinguished, rather than quietly shown as current. That is not a failure — a pension statement that only comes once a year will go stale, and it should look stale. The failure is showing it as if it were fresh.

02 · The list

What to gather

Sorted by how the value is known rather than by what kind of asset it is — which is also how it will appear on your statement.

TIER ONE

Things with a public price

Stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and crypto. The price is looked up; the part only you know is how many units you hold.

  • The ticker or symbol for each holding — and which account it sits in, since a share in a Roth and a share in a taxable account are treated very differently later
  • The number of units or shares, from your most recent statement rather than memory
  • For crypto, the amount held and whether it is self-custodied or on an exchange

You do not need: current prices, current values, or your cost basis. Those are sourced for you.

TIER TWO

Balances that come from a document

Anything whose value exists because an institution issued a statement saying so. This is usually the largest tier, and the one where dates matter most.

  • Retirement — 401(k), 403(b), TSP, traditional and Roth IRAs
  • Pension — the present value from the plan administrator's annual benefit statement, not the monthly payment amount. This is the single most commonly missing figure
  • Banking — checking, savings, high-yield savings, CDs, money market
  • Taxable brokerage account balances
  • HSA and 529 or other education accounts
  • Life insurance — the cash surrender value, not the death benefit
  • Annuities — current account value and the issuing carrier

For each one: the balance printed on the document, the date printed on the document, and which document it was. That is three small things, and the middle one is the one people skip.

TIER THREE

Things with no price and no statement

Property and possessions that have to be appraised rather than looked up. Here we collect three separate sources and average them — and all three get printed, so the number can be checked and argued with.

  • Your home and any other property — Zillow, Redfin, and your county assessor's roll are three good independent sources, and all three are free
  • Vehicles — KBB private party, Edmunds, and a written Carvana or CarMax offer. Have the mileage and rough condition to hand
  • Bullion and coins — a dated dealer buy quote. No free feed prices physical metals reliably, so this one is always recorded by hand and labelled as such
  • Business or partnership interests — a real valuation with a real date, if one exists
  • Art and collectibles — a written appraisal, if one exists

Also note: the date you pulled those estimates. An estimate from eighteen months ago ages exactly like a statement does.

THE OTHER SIDE

Everything owed

Each debt at its full current balance. Nothing is ever netted against the asset it is secured by.

  • Mortgages and home equity lines — balance, rate, and the statement date
  • Auto loans, student loans, credit cards
  • Personal or family loans, including money owed to relatives
  • Tax owed, and any business debt you are personally liable for

The interest rate matters. With it, the statement can show what your debt costs you every month in interest alone, before a dollar of principal moves.

Optional, and worth it if you have it: your monthly take-home pay and roughly how it splits across giving, saving, bills and living; and your net worth in previous years, even approximately. That is what draws the trend line.

03 · The part that surprises people

What happens when something is missing

Nothing bad. This is the one question worth answering before you start worrying about the gaps in your own list.

A missing figure is left missing. If there is no appraisal for your grandfather's coin collection, it is listed at zero with the reason printed — not estimated, not rounded up, not quietly left off. If a position has no price yet, it appears as awaiting one and is excluded from the totals. If a balance has no date, it is flagged more loudly than a stale one, because a figure that cannot be aged cannot be trusted at all.
So you do not need a complete list to start. A statement with three flagged gaps and an honest account of them is worth more than a tidy one where the gaps were filled in with confident guesses. The flags are the point. They tell you exactly what to go and find before next quarter.

04

What comes back

A statement of position where the provenance is on the face of it, not in a footnote.

  • Freshness disclosed before any total — dollar-weighted, split between priced, sourced within 180 days, and stale. You see how much of the number is current before you see the number
  • Every figure carrying its source and its date, with anything past 180 days flagged
  • Nothing netted — assets at full value, debts as debts, and equity shown for reference and labelled as already counted so it can never be added twice
  • A written note each quarter on what moved and why — the re-sourcing is the service, not an afterthought

You can see the whole thing on an invented household before you speak to anyone: read the sample statement.

Ready, or still deciding?

Either is fine. There is no form to fill in here and no figures to send — just leave your email on the Plumbline section and you will get a reply from Benjamin directly.

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