Inflation Calculator
A dollar today won't buy the same amount in the future if prices keep rising. Enter an amount, a number of years, and an assumed inflation rate to see both sides of the story: future cost, and future purchasing power.
Future cost of today's amount
$0.00
How It Works
Future Cost = Amount × (1 + rate)ⁿ — this tells you what today's amount will likely cost to buy in the future. Purchasing Power = Amount ÷ (1 + rate)ⁿ — this tells you what today's amount will feel like it's worth, in today's terms, once you actually have it in the future. Both use the same compounding formula as compound interest, just applied to prices instead of money growth.
Worked Example
At 3.5% average annual inflation, today's $1,000 would need to grow to about $1,411 in 10 years just to buy the same basket of goods it buys today. Flip the question around: $1,000 sitting untouched for 10 years would feel like roughly $709 in today's purchasing power once that decade has passed — nearly a 30% erosion, even though the number on the account statement never went down. That's the distinction this calculator is built to show: inflation doesn't shrink your balance, it shrinks what the balance can buy.