Inflation Calculator
The Inflation Calculator shows how much a given amount of money today would need to grow to in the future just to keep the same purchasing power, based on an average annual inflation rate.
Equivalent Future Cost
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Total Inflation--
Purchasing Power Lost--
How inflation is calculated
Future equivalent cost is calculated by compounding the amount forward at the inflation rate:
Future Value = Amount × (1 + i)years
Where i is the average annual inflation rate. The same formula run in reverse shows how much today's dollars will be "worth" in future purchasing power.
Example: At 3% average annual inflation, $1,000 today would need to grow to about $1,806 in 20 years just to buy the same goods and services — a cumulative 80.6% increase in prices.
Why this matters
Inflation erodes the purchasing power of cash and fixed-income savings over time, which is why long-term financial plans typically assume investment returns above the inflation rate. See our Retirement Calculator and Investment Calculator to plan around this.