NZ Inflation calculator
What was $50 worth in 1985? What would your grandad's first salary be in today's money? What has your rent actually done once you strip inflation out of it?
This calculator answers all of those, using Reserve Bank of New Zealand consumer price inflation data going back to 1960.
Why a spreadsheet rather than a web form
Most inflation calculators give you one answer and then forget it. Enter two numbers, get a figure, close the tab.
This one hands you the whole series. Every year from 1960 to the most recent March, so you can adjust as many figures as you like, keep your workings, and come back to it whenever you need it. Useful if you're comparing a run of years, checking whether your income has kept pace over a decade, or putting historical numbers into today's terms for a proper comparison.
It's your sheet. Save it and reuse it.
The number is an average, and you are not average
This is the part worth understanding before you rely on any inflation figure, including this one.
Inflation is measured across a basket of goods and services meant to represent a typical household. Yours isn't typical. Nobody's is.
If you have a mortgage, your costs move with interest rates in a way a renter's don't. If you drive a lot, petrol matters more to you than the average. If your children are in early childhood care, that line item swamps most of the basket. Rates and insurance have been rising faster than the headline figure for years, so if you own a house your personal inflation rate has probably been higher than the number in the news.
So the headline rate is useful for comparison and for adjusting historical figures. It is not a description of what happened to your money.
Here is an article I wrote about the importance of using your personal inflation rate rather than the country’s average rate.
What it can't do
It looks backwards only. For what today's money will be worth in twenty years, that's the other one.
The future impact of inflation calculator. And it uses annual March data, so it won't give you month-by-month movement within a year.
Is your income keeping up?
Most people's aren't, and most people don't check. A pay rise that looks reasonable can still leave you going backwards, and over a decade the gap gets substantial.
If you'd like to work through where you actually stand (income, savings, and whether your plan still holds in real terms), get in touch for a free 30 minute chat. Independent, commission-free.