🏭 Inflation Calculator
Inflation quietly shrinks what money can buy. At 3% annual inflation, something costing $100 today costs about $134 in ten years — and $100 saved under the mattress buys only about $74 worth of goods.
Enter any amount, an assumed inflation rate and a time span to see both sides: the inflated future price, and the eroded purchasing power of money held as cash.
How to use this calculator
Enter an amount, an assumed inflation rate and a number of years to see the future price of today's money and the eroded buying power of cash.
- Enter the Amount today you want to test.
- Type the Annual inflation rate you expect.
- Set the number of Years.
- Press Calculate to see both the inflated future cost and what your cash would still buy.
Frequently asked questions
What does this calculator tell me?
It shows two things at once: what a sum of money today will cost in the future at the given inflation rate, and what today's money will actually be able to buy after that inflation has eaten into it.
How is it calculated?
Future cost equals the amount multiplied by one plus the inflation rate, raised to the number of years. Purchasing power is the reverse: the amount divided by that same growth factor.
Give me a real example.
At 3% annual inflation for 10 years, $1,000 of goods today would cost about $1,344. Meanwhile $1,000 kept as cash would only buy about $744 worth of goods in today's terms.
How reliable is the forecast?
It is only as good as your assumed rate. Inflation moves with the economy, so treat the result as a scenario to plan around, not a prediction, and rerun it with a higher rate to stress-test your plans.