Inflation Calculator
Inflation Calculator - a browser-based finance utility.
Browser tool
About Inflation Calculator
What an amount is worth after a period at a given rate — the arithmetic behind the observation that a salary unchanged for five years is a salary that has quietly fallen. Free to use, no sign in, no subscription. The comparison is computed in the browser from the years you pick.
How to use it
- Enter the amount and the periodA sum today and the number of years to project, or the years since.
- Supply the rate yourselfNo national figure is assumed, because it differs by country and by year and a built-in number would be wrong somewhere.
- Read it in both directionsWhat today’s money will be worth, or what a past amount is worth now.
Why inflation compounds like interest
Prices rise on the already-risen level, not on the original, so the effect accelerates exactly as compound interest does. At 3% a year, prices roughly double in twenty-four years — which is why a figure that felt generous at the start of a career feels modest at the end of it without anything having gone wrong.
What it does not do
- A single rate is an average across a basket of goods that may not resemble what you buy. Housing, energy and education frequently move quite differently.
- No rate is built in, deliberately.
- Projecting forward assumes a constant rate, which no economy has ever had.
Questions people ask
- What inflation rate should I use?
- For a historical comparison, the published figure for your country over that period, which a statistics office will give you. For a projection, a conservative long-run average, and it is worth trying a higher one to see how sensitive the answer is.
- Why does official inflation not match what I experience?
- Because the official rate is an average over a standard basket, and your spending is not that basket. Anyone spending disproportionately on rent or energy experiences a quite different rate from the headline.
Questions about ToolsVerse itself — privacy, cost, what happens to your files — are answered in the frequently asked questions.
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