How much will my money be worth in 20 years?

At 3% inflation, $50,000 today will buy about $27,700 of today’s goods in twenty years, a loss of roughly 45% of its value without a cent being spent. Enter your own amount and rate above; the calculator also shows the reverse, which is what you would need in twenty years to match what $50,000 buys now.

How long does it take for money to halve in value?

ln(2) ÷ ln(1 + inflation rate) years, 23.4 years at 3%, 35 years at 2%, and under 12 years at 6%. The familiar rule of dividing 72 by the rate approximates this and is close enough between about 4% and 12%. The calculator gives the exact figure for whatever rate you enter.

What inflation rate should I use?

For a long horizon, somewhere between 2% and 3% is defensible: the Federal Reserve targets 2%, and the long-run US average has been nearer 3%. Try both, over thirty years the difference between them is large, and seeing that spread is more useful than picking one and trusting it.

Can this tell me what $100 in 1990 is worth today?

No, and that is deliberate. A historical conversion needs a published CPI series, which would go stale in a page like this without anyone noticing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes a calculator for exactly that, and it will always be more current. This one projects forward from a rate you choose.

How does inflation affect my savings and investments?

It reduces what the final balance buys, which is why a nominal return overstates what you actually gain. Subtract inflation from your expected return to get the real figure, a 7% return with 3% inflation is about 4% in real terms. The compound interest calculator and the retirement calculator both produce nominal figures you can adjust this way.

Is a 2% pay rise with 3% inflation a pay cut?

Yes, in real terms, you can buy about 1% less than the year before. The "salary would need to reach" figure above shows what an income has to grow to simply to stand still. It is the reason a nominal raise can feel like no raise at all.

Inflation Calculator

This inflation calculator shows what a sum of money will actually buy in future years, and what you would need by then to match what it buys today. At 3% a year, money loses roughly half its purchasing power in 23 years without anything being spent.

Example numbers

The answerfrom an example

In 20 years, $50,000 will buy what $27,684 buys today, a loss of 44.6% of its value.

Worked on $50,000 over 20 years at 3% inflation. Change anything below to use yours.

$50,000 will buy: $27,684
You would need: $90,306
Purchasing power lost: 44.6%

The figures behind it

$50,000 will buy: $27,684; Of today’s goods, in 20 years at 3.0%.
You would need: $90,306; Then, to buy what $50,000 buys today.
Purchasing power lost: 44.6%; The share of the amount’s value that inflation takes over the period.
Money halves every: 23.4 years; At this rate. The familiar "72 divided by the rate" is an approximation of this figure.
A salary would need to reach: $90,306; Just to stand still. A raise below the inflation rate is a pay cut in real terms.

What $50,000 still buys in 20 years$50,000

55%

45%

Purchasing power keptIn today’s money.$27,684
Purchasing power lostNot spent, not taxed, simply gone.$22,316

The same amount, both ways

Years from today

What it buys, in today’s moneyWhat you would need to match it

Payment scheduleShow

The table scrolls sideways

Year	Buys (today’s $)	Needed to match	Value lost
1	$48,544	$51,500	2.9%
2	$47,130	$53,045	5.7%
3	$45,757	$54,636	8.5%
4	$44,424	$56,275	11.2%
5	$43,130	$57,964	13.7%
6	$41,874	$59,703	16.3%
7	$40,655	$61,494	18.7%
8	$39,470	$63,339	21.1%
9	$38,321	$65,239	23.4%
10	$37,205	$67,196	25.6%
11	$36,121	$69,212	27.8%
12	$35,069	$71,288	29.9%
13	$34,048	$73,427	31.9%
14	$33,056	$75,629	33.9%
15	$32,093	$77,898	35.8%
16	$31,158	$80,235	37.7%
17	$30,251	$82,642	39.5%
18	$29,370	$85,122	41.3%
19	$28,514	$87,675	43.0%
20	$27,684	$90,306	44.6%

What this result assumes

This projects forward from a rate you choose. It is not a historical lookup, and deliberately so: converting a past year’s dollars needs a published CPI series, and a price table baked into a page is one that quietly goes stale.
Inflation is applied as a constant annual rate. Real inflation is neither constant nor uniform, the basket you actually buy, especially housing, healthcare and education, has often risen faster than the headline index.
Both figures are two views of one calculation: what an amount will buy is the reciprocal of what you would need to match it, which is why the curves are mirror images.
No return is applied. If the money is invested, subtract inflation from your expected return to get the growth in real terms.

Methodology

Reviewed September 1, 2026

Two questions, one calculation

Inflation is usually asked about in one of two ways, and they are the same arithmetic run in opposite directions. What will this amount buy later? That is A ÷ (1 + i)ᵗ — discounting the amount back into today’s money. What would I need later to buy what this buys now? That is A × (1 + i)ᵗ.

The two answers are exact reciprocals, which the test suite asserts directly, and both are shown because people arrive needing one or the other. Someone projecting a retirement balance wants the first. Someone setting a savings target for a purchase years out, or judging a pay rise, wants the second.

The chart draws them together, which makes the symmetry visible: one curve falls away from the amount as fast as the other climbs above it.

Why this projects forward and does not look back

The other common inflation question — what $100 in 1985 is worth today — needs a published Consumer Price Index series, and a CPI table embedded in a static page is a table that goes out of date every month without anyone noticing. On a site whose whole claim is that its figures are current and sourced, that is the wrong trade.

A projection from a rate you choose is honest about being an assumption. A historical conversion that is quietly two years stale looks like a fact and is not. If you need a historical figure, the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes one directly and it will always be more current than anything cached here.

The default of 3% is close to the long-run US average. The Federal Reserve targets 2%. Both are reasonable; neither is a forecast, and the gap between them compounds to a large difference over thirty years, which is worth seeing for yourself by changing the field.

The half-life, and the rule of 72

The number of years for money to lose half its purchasing power is ln(2) ÷ ln(1 + i). At 3% that is 23.4 years — within a generation, a dollar buys fifty cents of what it does now.

The familiar shortcut, 72 divided by the rate, gives 24 years here. That rule is an approximation of exactly this formula and works well between roughly 4% and 12%; the calculator reports the exact figure rather than the shortcut.

One thing the headline rate hides: your personal inflation rate is not the published one. The index averages a basket that may not resemble what you buy. Housing, healthcare and education have persistently outrun the headline figure, so a household weighted toward those has been losing purchasing power faster than the number suggests.

Assumptions

Inflation is a constant annual rate for the whole period. Real inflation is neither constant nor predictable.
The rate is applied to a single amount; no contributions, spending or investment return are modelled.
The published index is treated as applying to you, though your own basket of purchases will differ from it.
This is a forward projection from a rate you choose, not a historical conversion from a CPI series.
Tax is ignored. Inflation and tax compound against a nominal return together, and only inflation is applied here.
Compounding is annual, matching how inflation rates are quoted.

Sources

Common questions

How much will my money be worth in 20 years?: At 3% inflation, $50,000 today will buy about $27,700 of today’s goods in twenty years, a loss of roughly 45% of its value without a cent being spent. Enter your own amount and rate above; the calculator also shows the reverse, which is what you would need in twenty years to match what $50,000 buys now.
How long does it take for money to halve in value?: ln(2) ÷ ln(1 + inflation rate) years, 23.4 years at 3%, 35 years at 2%, and under 12 years at 6%. The familiar rule of dividing 72 by the rate approximates this and is close enough between about 4% and 12%. The calculator gives the exact figure for whatever rate you enter.
What inflation rate should I use?: For a long horizon, somewhere between 2% and 3% is defensible: the Federal Reserve targets 2%, and the long-run US average has been nearer 3%. Try both, over thirty years the difference between them is large, and seeing that spread is more useful than picking one and trusting it.
Can this tell me what $100 in 1990 is worth today?: No, and that is deliberate. A historical conversion needs a published CPI series, which would go stale in a page like this without anyone noticing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes a calculator for exactly that, and it will always be more current. This one projects forward from a rate you choose.
How does inflation affect my savings and investments?: It reduces what the final balance buys, which is why a nominal return overstates what you actually gain. Subtract inflation from your expected return to get the real figure, a 7% return with 3% inflation is about 4% in real terms. The compound interest calculator and the retirement calculator both produce nominal figures you can adjust this way.
Is a 2% pay rise with 3% inflation a pay cut?: Yes, in real terms, you can buy about 1% less than the year before. The "salary would need to reach" figure above shows what an income has to grow to simply to stand still. It is the reason a nominal raise can feel like no raise at all.

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