Inflation Calculator
See what today’s money will be worth in the future: future cost of expenses and the eroded purchasing power of savings at any inflation rate.
How inflation math works
Inflation compounds just like interest — each year's price rise applies to already-risen prices.
The two directions this calculator handles are:
Future cost = A × (1 + i)y Purchasing power = A ÷ (1 + i)y
where A is the amount in today's money, i the annual inflation rate as a
decimal and y the number of years. "Future cost" answers what will this expense cost
later; "purchasing power" answers what will this cash be worth later.
Worked example
At 6% inflation over 10 years, (1.06)10 ≈ 1.7908.
An expense of 10,000 today will therefore cost about 17,908 —
a 79% rise. Flip the mode and the same math says 10,000 held as cash for those 10 years will buy only
what 5,584 buys today: inflation quietly confiscates almost half its value.
Why this matters for planning
Any goal more than a few years away must be priced in future money: a college fee of 10,000 today is a
17,908 goal in a decade at 6%. Conversely, any long-term saving earning less than inflation is losing
value in real terms even while its balance grows. The 5-to-30-year table above shows both trajectories
at a glance — note how the damage accelerates: the second decade erodes more than the first.
Tips
- Rule of 72: prices double roughly every 72 ÷ inflation-rate years.
- Use category-specific rates — education and healthcare often inflate 2–4 points above headline CPI.
- Judge investments by their real return: a 7% deposit during 6% inflation grows your buying power by only about 1% a year.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate the future cost of something with inflation?
Multiply today's price by (1 + i)y, where i is the annual inflation rate as a decimal and y the number of years. At 6% inflation, something costing 10,000 today costs 10,000 × (1.06)10 ≈ 17,908 in ten years.
What does purchasing power mean?
It is what your money can actually buy. Inflation erodes it: divide by (1 + i)y to see today's equivalent. At 6% inflation, 10,000 kept as cash for 10 years buys only what about 5,584 buys today — a loss of roughly 44% of its buying power.
What inflation rate should I use?
Use your country's long-run average consumer inflation: roughly 2–3% for the US and Eurozone, 4–7% for many emerging economies such as India. For personal planning, education and healthcare costs often rise faster than headline CPI, so use a higher rate for those goals.
How long until prices double?
Divide 72 by the inflation rate (the Rule of 72). At 6% inflation prices double roughly every 12 years; at 3%, about every 24 years. The 5–30 year table under the result lets you verify this.
How do I protect savings from inflation?
Cash loses purchasing power at exactly the inflation rate. To preserve or grow real value, savings must earn more than inflation after tax — historically that has meant equities, inflation-indexed bonds, or real assets, rather than low-interest deposits. What matters is the real return: nominal return minus inflation.