Inflation calculator
Standing still is still losing ground.
A balance that never grows can still shrink. See what today’s savings will really buy, once inflation has taken its share.
Your money
What you’ve got sitting in cash today.
In 10 years, that would actually buy
£10,000 at 0% with 2.6% inflation buys about £7,736 of today’s stuff in 10 years.
In 10 years, £10,000 today would actually buy £7,736 of today’s goods and services. The account would show £10,000, but inflation quietly takes £2,264 of that in real terms.£7,736
£2,264
The balance is the number your account shows you. Real value is what it can actually buy - that’s the one worth watching.
What inflation quietly takes
That’s the spending power £10,000 loses over 10 years at 0%, even though the account itself would show £10,000.
“The balance on your screen never falls. Its buying power does, every single year you leave it alone.”
| Year | Nominal balance | Real purchasing power (today's money) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | £10,000 | £10,000 |
| 1 | £10,000 | £9,747 |
| 2 | £10,000 | £9,500 |
| 3 | £10,000 | £9,259 |
| 4 | £10,000 | £9,024 |
| 5 | £10,000 | £8,796 |
| 6 | £10,000 | £8,573 |
| 7 | £10,000 | £8,355 |
| 8 | £10,000 | £8,144 |
| 9 | £10,000 | £7,937 |
| 10 | £10,000 | £7,736 |
£10,000
£7,736
£2,264
How this works
Both the rate and inflation are compounded annually, once a year rather than monthly - close enough over a multi-year horizon that the extra assumption would not change the story. Inflation is held constant at 2.6% for the whole 10-year stretch; real inflation moves year to year and nobody can call it that far out. The current-CPI preset uses the ONS’s headline 12-month rate, 2.6% (12 months to June 2026, released 22 July 2026) - a snapshot, not a prediction. This is not financial advice. These are ideas to make you a little bit richer.
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