Inflation Adjuster

Divide 72 by the inflation rate to approximate how many years it takes for purchasing power to halve. At 2% it takes ~36 years — manageable. At 8% it takes ~9 years — a working career sees money halve twice. This is why central banks target ~2%: high enough to avoid deflation, low enough that wage growth can outpace it. The nominal value line rising above your fixed amount isn't profit — it's the price tag going up.

Inflation is compound interest run in reverse: each year the same coins buy a little less, and the shortfalls stack up like interest. The nominal line climbs because it multiplies by (1+π)ⁿ; the real line falls because it divides by the same factor — one story told from two directions. Keep €1000 as cash at 3% inflation for 20 years and it still reads €1000, yet buys only what €554 buys today.

This tool caps inflation at 50% a year, but reality has blown far past that. In Hungary in 1946 prices doubled roughly every 15 hours — the worst hyperinflation ever recorded — and the highest-denomination banknote ever issued reached 10²⁰ pengő. At those speeds the halving time of purchasing power is measured in hours, not years, and the printing presses literally cannot keep pace.