Enter your cash balance. See what inflation quietly takes from it every day, month, and year, what it will be worth in 1, 10, and 30 years, and what you can do about it.
Current U.S. inflation: 3.3%July 2026 CPI-U: 332.8
Inflation loss calculator
1
Checking, savings, cash under the mattress. Anything not earning enough to keep up with prices.
$
Enter a dollar amount greater than zero.
2
Which inflation rate should we use?
Real numbers from the U.S. Consumer Price Index. The latest 12-month rate is selected by default.
CPI-U rose 3.3% from July 2025 to July 2026 (BLS via FRED).
3
Enter your account’s APY to see whether it actually keeps up with inflation.
Your money is losing
Buying power of $10,000 at 3.3% inflation
Per day−$0.89Every single day, including weekends
Per month−$27.02Roughly one streaming bill a month
Per year−$319.46Gone without spending a cent
Per hour$0.04
Buying power halves in21 years
Worth in 10 years$7,228 (−$2,772)
$10,000 in cash loses about $0.89 a day, $27.02 a month, and $319.46 a year at 3.3% inflation. In 10 years it buys what $7,228 buys today.
Each row shows what today’s balance will be worth in today’s dollars if it just sits there.
In
Buying power
Lost
Value left
With your interest
1 year
$9,681
−$319
97% left
3 years
$9,072
−$928
91% left
5 years
$8,502
−$1,498
85% left
10 years
$7,228
−$2,772
72% left
20 years
$5,224
−$4,776
52% left
30 years
$3,776
−$6,224
38% left
Stop the bleed
How to stop losing money to inflation
Inflation is not a tax you can refuse to pay, but it is one you can shrink. The goal is simple: make sure every dollar you hold earns at least as much as prices rise. Here are the strategies people actually use, from safest to most involved. None of this is personal financial advice; it is a map of the options.
Keep only what you need in cash
An emergency fund of three to six months of expenses belongs in cash. Money beyond that has no job, and idle money is exactly what inflation eats. Decide what each dollar is for, then move the surplus somewhere that pays.
Zero risk · Do this first
Move idle cash to a high-yield savings or money market account
The average U.S. savings account pays well under 1%, while high-yield savings accounts and money market funds have recently paid around 4%. Same insurance, same access, very different real return. Use step 3 above to see how much a rate change matters for your balance.
Insured · Liquid
Use Treasury bills, I bonds, or TIPS
Short-term Treasury bills track current rates and are exempt from state income tax. Series I savings bonds and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) are built to move with CPI, so they are the closest thing to a direct hedge against the number this calculator uses.
Government-backed · CPI-linked
Invest long-term money in diversified assets
Over decades, broad stock index funds have historically returned more than inflation, though with real ups and downs along the way. Money you will not touch for five or more years is usually a poor fit for cash. Compare how $10,000 fared across stocks, gold, bonds, and cash after inflation.
Higher return · Higher volatility
Consider real assets
Housing, real estate funds, commodities, and gold have at times held value when the dollar did not, but their record is uneven and timing matters. See the gold versus dollar history before assuming any of them are a guaranteed hedge.
Mixed record · Diversifier
Pay down high-interest debt
Paying off a credit card charging 20% or more is a guaranteed, tax-free 20% return. No savings account or inflation hedge comes close. Clearing expensive debt beats holding extra cash that loses 3% a year.
Guaranteed return
Make sure your income keeps up
A 2% raise during 3.3% inflation is a pay cut in real terms. Track your pay against CPI, negotiate with the number in hand, and use our salary inflation comparison to see what your past income is worth today.
Biggest lever for most people
Watch fees and taxes on the money that is working
A 1% annual fee during 3% inflation quietly erases a third of what you needed just to break even. Interest and gains are also taxed, so a 4% yield may only be 3% after tax. Judge every option by its real, after-cost return.
Real return is what counts
What usually does not work
Waiting for prices to come back down. Lower inflation means prices rise more slowly, not that they fall. Here is why prices stay high.
Chasing whatever went up last year. A “hedge” bought after its big move often stops hedging.
Holding extra cash “until things settle.” The calculator above shows what waiting costs you each month.
Inflation Money is an educational site, not a financial adviser. Yields, tax rules, and returns change. Verify current rates with the provider and consider a licensed professional for decisions about your own money.
How to use this inflation loss calculator
Type the amount of money you are holding in cash, pick the inflation rate you want to test, and optionally add the interest your account pays. The results update instantly: what you lose per day, per month, and per year, plus a table of what the balance will really be worth in 1 to 30 years.
Every rate except “Custom” comes from the official U.S. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), so the default result reflects real current inflation, not a guess.
What “losing money” means here
Your bank balance does not shrink. What shrinks is what that balance can buy. If prices rise 3.3% in a year, $10,000 at the end of the year buys only what $9,681 bought at the start. That missing $319 is the inflation loss, sometimes called the “inflation tax.”
The daily and monthly figures divide that yearly loss using compound math, so they add up correctly over a full year.
Real examples at today’s rate
How much cash loses to inflation per day, month, and year
These figures use the 3.3% latest 12-month CPI-U rate bundled with this page. Values are purchasing-power losses in today’s dollars, rounded to the nearest cent or dollar.
Inflation loss on common cash balances at 3.3% annual inflation
Cash balance
Loss per day
Loss per month
Loss per year
Buying power in 10 years
$1,000
$0.09
$2.70
$31.95
$723
$5,000
$0.44
$13.51
$159.73
$3,614
$10,000
$0.89
$27.02
$319.46
$7,228
$25,000
$2.22
$67.55
$798.64
$18,069
$50,000
$4.44
$135.10
$1,597.29
$36,138
$100,000
$8.89
$270.19
$3,194.58
$72,276
What will $10,000 be worth in 10 years?
At 3.3% inflation, $10,000 kept in cash will buy what about $7,228 buys today after ten years. At the Federal Reserve’s 2% target the answer is about $8,203, and at 5% it is about $6,139. The gap between those figures is why the rate you assume matters so much for long-range plans.
Why the 5-year average is higher than today’s rate
Inflation peaked above 9% in mid-2022. Averaging the last five years still captures that surge, which is why the 5-year annualized figure sits above both the latest 12-month rate and the 10-year average. Use it as a “what if it happens again” scenario.
The math behind the result
Inflation loss formulas
Let A be your cash balance and r the annual inflation rate as a decimal (3.3% = 0.033). Because prices compound, the calculator converts the annual rate into shorter periods with exponents rather than simple division.
Buying power after n years
A ÷ (1 + r)n
Loss per year
A × (1 − 1 ÷ (1 + r))
Loss per month
A × (1 − (1 + r)−1/12)
Loss per day
A × (1 − (1 + r)−1/365.25)
Real return with interest i
(1 + i) ÷ (1 + r) − 1
Years until buying power halves
ln(2) ÷ ln(1 + r)
Multiplying the balance by the rate (A × r) overstates the loss slightly, because it measures how much more you would need rather than how much less you can buy. At 3.3%, A × r gives $330 on $10,000 while the buying-power formula gives $319.46. Both are reasonable; this tool uses the buying-power version consistently.
Multi-year “average” rates are annualized: ((CPI now ÷ CPI n years ago)1/n − 1) × 100. That is the constant compounded rate that produces the same total change, not an arithmetic mean of yearly rates. Read more in our guide to purchasing power and reading CPI correctly.
Sources and limits
Where the inflation numbers come from
Rates are computed from the monthly CPI-U index (FRED series CPIAUCSL, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) bundled with this site and refreshed with our market data. The “latest” rate is the change between the most recent index month and the same month a year earlier. The 3-, 5-, and 10-year rates are annualized changes over those windows.
CPI measures a broad national basket. Your personal inflation rate depends on what you buy: rent, groceries, healthcare, and tuition have all moved differently from the headline number. The calculator cannot predict future inflation; every projection is a scenario at the rate you choose.
At 3.3% annual inflation, every $10,000 held in cash loses about $0.89 of buying power per day, $27 per month, and $319 per year. Enter your own balance in the calculator to see your numbers, or pick a different inflation rate to compare scenarios.
What inflation rate does this calculator use?
The default is the latest 12-month change in the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and bundled from FRED. You can also choose the 3-, 5-, or 10-year annualized average, the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, or type a custom rate.
How is the daily loss calculated?
The calculator converts the annual rate into a daily rate with compounding: loss per day = amount × (1 − (1 + rate)^(−1/365.25)). It measures buying power lost, so the yearly figure equals amount × (1 − 1 ÷ (1 + rate)) rather than simply amount × rate.
What will $10,000 be worth in 10 years with inflation?
At 3.3% inflation, $10,000 will buy what about $7,228 buys today after 10 years, a loss of roughly $2,772 in purchasing power. At the Fed’s 2% target the figure is about $8,203, and at 5% it falls to about $6,139.
Does the calculator include interest my savings earn?
Yes. Enter the APY your cash earns in step 3. The calculator then shows your real (inflation-adjusted) return and adds a column showing the buying power of your balance with interest included.
How do I stop losing money to inflation?
Keep only what you need in cash, move idle savings to accounts that pay close to or above inflation such as high-yield savings, money market funds, or Treasury bills, consider inflation-linked bonds like I bonds and TIPS, invest long-term money in diversified assets, pay down high-interest debt, and make sure your income grows at least as fast as prices.
Is a high-yield savings account enough to beat inflation?
Sometimes. If the APY is higher than the inflation rate, your real return is positive before taxes. Because interest is taxable and rates change, a savings account is best for emergency funds and near-term goals rather than long-term growth.
Is this financial advice?
No. This is an educational calculator based on public CPI data. It cannot predict future inflation or returns. Consider your own situation or consult a licensed professional before making financial decisions.