CAGR calculator
The yearly growth rate from start to end, and time to double.
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Real return calculator
What a yearly return is worth after inflation, and what your money will really buy in the years ahead.
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Return, inflation and years
The real return
7% a year with 3% inflation is +3.88% a year in real terms. After 10 years, $10,000.00 grows to $19,671.51, worth $14,637.45 in today's money.
- Eaten by rising prices
- $5,034.06 of the $19,671.51 is just prices going up.
- Left in cash instead
- $10,000.00 would buy what $7,440.94 buys today: 25.6% less.
- The quick sum
- 7% minus 3% says +4.00%; the exact rate is +3.88%, a little lower.
The balance each year, in money of that year and in today's money.
| Year | Balance | In today's money |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,700.00 | $10,388.35 |
| 2 | $11,449.00 | $10,791.78 |
| 3 | $12,250.43 | $11,210.88 |
| 4 | $13,107.96 | $11,646.25 |
| 5 | $14,025.52 | $12,098.53 |
| 6 | $15,007.30 | $12,568.38 |
| 7 | $16,057.81 | $13,056.47 |
| 8 | $17,181.86 | $13,563.52 |
| 9 | $18,384.59 | $14,090.26 |
| 10 | $19,671.51 | $14,637.45 |
Education only, not investment advice. The answer comes from the numbers you typed in, not from your account or the market. Simulated results are hypothetical and have limits: real trading has slippage, gaps, changing results and emotions. Trading leveraged products can lose money quickly, including all of it. Risk warning
Educational only, not financial advice; trading involves risk.
A balance that grows can still buy less
A return is only worth what it buys. At 7% a year with 3% inflation, money grows about 3.9% a year in real terms, so 10,000 becomes about 19,700 in ten years but buys what 14,600 buys today. Cash under the mattress loses the other way: at 3% inflation, ten years take away about a quarter of what it buys.
To find the yearly rate between two balances, use the CAGR calculator; to grow a balance month by month with deposits, the compounding calculator.
Not advice. Arithmetic on the numbers you type; real returns and inflation change from year to year.
Next tools
Compounding calculator
A monthly return compounded, with uneven months.
APR and APY calculator
A simple yearly rate against the rate with compounding.
Pricing
Three ways in. Pick yours.
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Baroq never holds your money and never trades for you. Educational only, not financial advice; trading involves risk.