This chart shows the impact of inflation on the purchasing power of a fixed, annual $50,000 pension.
This chart shows the impact of inflation on the purchasing power of a fixed, annual $50,000 pension. It's important to understand the effects of inflation because it decreases the amount of goods or services you can buy (purchasing power), all else being equal. Here we see that with a hypothetical 3% inflation rate, the fixed, annual $50,000 pension can purchase only $37,200 worth of goods or services at the end of 10 years (a 26% loss of purchasing power) and only $27,684 worth of goods or services at the end of 20 years (a 45% loss of purchasing power).