Inflation purchasing-power calculator: what will this money be worth

Editorial data illustration for Inflation purchasing-power calculator: what will this money be worth

Inflation does not take your money in one go; it shaves a little off every year. The two small tools below use the plainest formulas: one works out how much purchasing power cash keeps after a few years of sitting still, the other shows whether your return actually beats inflation. Change the numbers and the answer changes with them, so put in your own.

① How much purchasing power cash loses

Assume a sum just sits there. At a fixed annual inflation rate, this is its real purchasing power after N years.

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On this estimate, $100,000 left untouched is worth, after 10 years, only about $74,409 in today's money, a cumulative loss of roughly 25.6%.

This means "the same money buys less", not that the number itself shrinks. The inflation rate is the assumption you entered; in reality it varies year to year. This is a rough compound estimate, excludes taxes and fees, is for understanding only, and is not investment advice.

② Real return: does it beat inflation

A nominal return can look positive, yet if it does not outrun inflation your purchasing power is still shrinking. The Fisher formula recovers the part you actually keep.

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The real return is about 1.0%. This money is beating inflation, so purchasing power is slowly growing.

Real return = (1 + nominal) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1. This is why many people are not satisfied leaving everything in a savings account: if the nominal rate is below inflation, over time you slowly lose purchasing power. A math estimate, excluding taxes and fees; not investment advice.

Once you have the numbers, read on

The numbers are only a starting point. The real question is: given that cash is shrinking, where to put some of it and how much. Read these in order to think it through.

Last updated: 2026-07-02. This page is a pure math tool and collects none of what you type (the calculation runs entirely in your own browser). Inflation and return rates are the assumptions you enter; results are for understanding only and are not investment, tax or legal advice.