Inflation Impact Calculator
Starting amount in today's dollars
Expected average inflation rate
Number of years to project
Yearly deposits to add
Results
Future Cost
Equivalent cost in future dollars
Purchasing Power Lost
Erosion in today's dollars
Real Value Today
What future amount buys today
How the Inflation Impact Calculator Works
This calculator shows the flip side of compound growth: instead of money growing, purchasing power shrinks over time at your chosen inflation rate. It reports the future nominal cost of today's amount, how much buying power is lost in today's dollars, and the "real" value your money retains after inflation. If you add annual contributions, it also projects their future nominal total.
It uses the same compounding math as the Compound Interest Calculator, just applied in reverse — to prices instead of savings.
Frequently Asked Questions
What inflation rate should I use?
There's no single right answer — many people use a long-run historical average as a starting point, but you can enter any rate to model different scenarios.
What does "real value" mean?
It's how much your current amount is really worth once you account for future inflation — expressed in today's purchasing power rather than future nominal dollars.
How is this different from the Compound Interest Calculator?
Both use the same growth formula, but this one frames it around rising prices eroding value, while Compound Interest frames it around savings growing — useful together to compare nominal growth against inflation.