Inflation Calculator
See what inflation really does to your money. A 6% inflation rate does not just shave 6% off — it compounds, quietly halving purchasing power in about 12 years. Find out what today’s amount will be worth in future years, or what an amount from the past equals in today’s money — just pick a mode and enter the years and inflation rate.
How to Use the Inflation Calculator
- Enter the amount you want to adjust for inflation.
- Enter the number of years and the annual inflation rate.
- Choose a mode: future purchasing power (what today’s money buys later), or a past amount restated in today’s money.
- Press Calculate to see the inflation-adjusted figure and the price multiplier.
Practical example
At 6% annual inflation, $100,000 today buys only about $55,839 worth of goods after 10 years — prices multiply by 1.79. Flip it around: something that cost $100,000 ten years ago would cost about $179,085 today at the same rate. This is why keeping large sums in a 0% savings account is a slow, guaranteed loss, and why long-term financial plans must assume a realistic inflation rate rather than ignoring it.
Key features and benefits
- Two directions: deflate today’s money into the future or inflate yesterday’s money into today.
- Honest compounding: uses compound inflation, not a misleading simple yearly subtraction.
- Price multiplier shown: see exactly how many times prices grow over the period.
- Eye-opening: makes the silent cost of inflation concrete and personal.
- Private: calculated entirely in your browser.
Limitations
Inflation is assumed constant, but real inflation varies every year and differs sharply across categories — food, housing, healthcare, and education rarely move together. Official CPI figures measure an average basket that may not match your personal spending, and hyperinflation or deflation episodes break any smooth model. Treat the result as an illustration of compounding’s power, not an economic forecast. A useful rule of thumb: divide 72 by the inflation rate to estimate the years until purchasing power halves — at 6%, that is about 12 years, which matches this calculator’s math.