What is the inflation-adjusted return?

This measure of return considers the inflation rate during the period. The inflation-adjusted return measure shows how much money an investment made after inflation was considered.

By taking inflation out of the return on an investment, the owner can see how much the security could earn without dealing with outside economic forces. The return that takes inflation into account is also called the real rate of return or the necessary rate of return that takes inflation into account.1

How to Understand Inflation-Adjusted Return

You can use the inflation-adjusted return to compare assets, especially ones in different countries. That’s because the return considers each country’s inflation rate. In this case, an investor may get significantly different results when looking at the performance of an investment if they don’t consider crossing foreign borders. The inflation-adjusted return is an excellent way to compare the return on investment to those on other investments.

Let’s say, for example, that a bond investment was said to have made 2% over the past year. It looks like this is a win. Let’s say, though, that inflation was 2.5% last year. Simply put, the investment did not keep up with inflation and lost 0.5%.

Also, let’s say there was a stock that gave back 12% last year when inflation was 3%. The stated return of 12% minus the amount of inflation (3%) gives us a rough idea of the actual rate of return of 9%.

Finding the Return After Taking Inflation into Account

You need to take three simple steps to figure out the inflation-adjusted return. First, you need to figure out the return on your purchase. Second, you need to figure out the inflation rate for that period. Third, the amount of inflation needs to be taken out of the return on the investment using geometry.

Returns and inflation add up, so if you don’t use the correct method and take the inflation rate away from the nominal return, you won’t get an entirely correct answer.

A Return That Takes Inflation into Account

Suppose a trader spends $75,000 on a stock on January 1 of a particular year. The person sells the shares for $90,000 at the end of the year, on December 31. The investor got $2,500 in profits over the year. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 700 at the start of the year. The CPI was 721 on December 31.

The first step is to use the following method to figure out the return on the investment:

Divide the ending price by the starting price and add the dividends. This gives you the return: $90,000 minus $75,000 + $2,500 minus $75,000 = 23.3%.

The second step is to use the following method to figure out the rate of inflation during the period:

Amount of inflation = (end of CPI level – the start of CPI level) / start of CPI level = (721 – 700) / 700 = 3%

The third step is to use the following method to geometrically back out the amount of inflation:

Return after taking inflation into account = (1 + Stock Return) / (1 + Inflation) – 1 = (1.233 / 1.03) – 1 = 19.7 percent

The method in step three must be used because inflation and returns add up. If an investor only uses a linear guess and takes 3% away from 23.3%, they would get a return on investment of 20.3%, which is 0.6% too high.

Nominal Return vs. Inflation-Adjusted Return

Using inflation-adjusted results is usually a good idea because they show how things are in the real world. If you look at things over the long term instead of just once a day, once a week, or once a month, you can often better understand what they have done in the past.

There could be a good reason for nominal gains to work better than those that take inflation into account, though. Before taxes, investment fees, or inflation are considered, we immediately deal with these small prices and returns to move forward because we live in the “here and now” world. Most people will be more interested in how high or low an investment is priced for making money in the future than in how well it has done. If an investor buys it tomorrow, it won’t always matter how the price did when inflation was considered five years ago.

What Does “Inflation Adjustment” Look Like?

Taking out the effect of price inflation from statistics is what inflation adjustment means. If a stock went up 23% in a year when inflation was 3%, we could roughly say that the actual gain, considering the higher cost of living, was about 20%.

Why is it essential to add essential inflation?

When prices go up, people can’t buy as much. In April 2023, $50 will be worth the same as in April 2001. The same is true for the money that is spent. It’s possible to say that an investment of $5,000 will earn 70% in 10 years. However, the return, or profit you make, is less when considering inflation.2

How should I best tell if prices are rising?

People in the United States most often use the Consumer Price Index (CPI), made by the Labor Statistics Bureau (BLS). It changes how the government runs and how much it costs to borrow money. It’s not perfect, though, and it won’t show how much things cost for everyone as they change.

Conclusion

• The inflation-adjusted return considers how inflation has changed the success of an investment over time.
• The inflation-adjusted return, also called return,” gives a more accurate picture of how well an investment did over time.
• When prices rise, the size of a good return will shrink, and the size of a loss will grow.