Inflation Calculator

This inflation calculator shows how the buying power of money changes over time, working out both the future cost of today's prices and the real value of a future sum in today's money. Inflation is the steady rise in the general level of prices, which means a dollar buys a little less each year, and over a decade or two the effect is large enough to reshape budgets, savings goals and retirement plans. You enter an amount, an assumed average annual inflation rate and a number of years, and the calculator compounds the rate across the years to give two views. The first is the future cost: what something priced at your amount today would cost after that many years of inflation. The second is the real value: what a fixed amount of money received in the future would be worth in today's buying power, which shows why cash left under the mattress quietly loses value. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand targets inflation of 1 to 3 percent, averaging around 2 percent, so a long-run assumption of 2 to 3 percent is reasonable, though recent years have at times run higher. This calculator uses an assumed rate you choose rather than official index data, which is ideal for projections; for exact historical figures, see the Reserve Bank and Stats NZ. Enter your figures to see the effect of inflation straight away.

Uses an assumed average annual rate, compounded yearly. For official historical CPI, see the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Estimate only.