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See what today's money will be worth in the future at a chosen average inflation rate.
See what today's money will be worth in the future at a chosen average inflation rate.
Enter values above and click Calculate — results will appear here with the formula explained.
Inflation erodes what a fixed sum can buy. Compounded annually at rate r, prices multiply by (1+r) each year, so after y years something costing $100 today costs $100 × (1+r)ʸ — and your $100 buys only 1/(1+r)ʸ of what it used to. The cruel subtlety: inflation compounds exactly like investment interest, but against you, silently and every year.
Because real-world inflation fluctuates, this tool uses a single average rate you choose. That makes it a transparent scenario model rather than a prediction: try 2%, 3% and 5% to see how sensitive long horizons are to the assumption. At 2% over 20 years prices rise ~49%; at 5% they rise ~165% — the assumption you pick matters more than decimal precision in the math.
History calibrates intuition: US CPI averaged roughly 2–3% in recent decades but spiked past 8–9% in 2021–2022 and ran double-digits in the 1970s–80s. Different baskets inflate differently — housing, healthcare and education have long outpaced headline CPI while electronics deflated. Match the rate to the expense: use shelter-heavy assumptions for housing goals, medical trends for retirement health costs.
Cash and fixed-rate holdings lose whenever inflation exceeds their yield — the definition of negative real return. A 4% savings account during 5% inflation shrinks purchasing power 1% yearly while statements show growth. This is why long-horizon money migrates toward equities, real estate and inflation-linked bonds: not for excitement, but because standing still is moving backward.
Wages, pensions and contracts interact with inflation asymmetrically. Fixed pensions without cost-of-living adjustments lose ~40% of purchasing power in 20 years at 2.5% inflation; Social Security's COLA partially offsets this for retirees. Salary negotiations that 'match inflation' merely hold ground — real raises start above it. Model income and expenses with the same rate for honest lifetime plans.
Deflation (falling prices) is not a gift: it raises real debt burdens and typically accompanies economic distress. And hyperinflation destroys planning horizons entirely. The 2–3% planning band used here assumes functioning monetary regimes — for contracts spanning decades in volatile economies, index clauses beat fixed figures.
See what today's money will be worth in the future at a chosen average inflation rate. Formula: Future cost = Amount × (1 + inflation)ʸ.
Inflation erodes what a fixed sum can buy. Compounded annually at rate r, prices multiply by (1+r) each year, so after y years something costing $100 today costs $100 × (1+r)ʸ — and your $100 buys only 1/(1+r)ʸ of what it used to. The cruel subtlety: inflation compounds exactly like investment interest, but against you, silently and every year.
Because real-world inflation fluctuates, this tool uses a single average rate you choose. That makes it a transparent scenario model rather than a prediction: try 2%, 3% and 5% to see how sensitive long horizons are to the assumption. At 2% over 20 years prices rise ~49%; at 5% they rise ~165% — the assumption you pick matters more than decimal precision in the math.
History calibrates intuition: US CPI averaged roughly 2–3% in recent decades but spiked past 8–9% in 2021–2022 and ran double-digits in the 1970s–80s. Different baskets inflate differently — housing, healthcare and education have long outpaced headline CPI while electronics deflated. Match the rate to the expense: use shelter-heavy assumptions for housing goals, medical trends for retirement health costs.
Cash and fixed-rate holdings lose whenever inflation exceeds their yield — the definition of negative real return. A 4% savings account during 5% inflation shrinks purchasing power 1% yearly while statements show growth. This is why long-horizon money migrates toward equities, real estate and inflation-linked bonds: not for excitement, but because standing still is moving backward.
Wages, pensions and contracts interact with inflation asymmetrically. Fixed pensions without cost-of-living adjustments lose ~40% of purchasing power in 20 years at 2.5% inflation; Social Security's COLA partially offsets this for retirees. Salary negotiations that 'match inflation' merely hold ground — real raises start above it. Model income and expenses with the same rate for honest lifetime plans.
Deflation (falling prices) is not a gift: it raises real debt burdens and typically accompanies economic distress. And hyperinflation destroys planning horizons entirely. The 2–3% planning band used here assumes functioning monetary regimes — for contracts spanning decades in volatile economies, index clauses beat fixed figures.
At 3% average inflation, a $10,000 expense today would cost about $18,061 in 20 years, while $10,000 kept under a mattress would buy roughly $5,537 worth of goods. A retirement case: $60,000 of yearly spending power needs about $108,000 in nominal dollars 20 years out at 3% — the number that should anchor savings targets, not today's $60,000.
Formulas are standard public references (see our methodology). External standards are cited in the text where they apply.
Last reviewed: September 2026 · Report an error