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Today's dollars vs. future dollars

Also called: real vs. nominal, inflation-adjusted

Future dollars are the amounts you will actually see in a given year. Today's dollars remove inflation so amounts in different years can be compared by what they buy.

At 3% inflation prices double in about 24 years, so a future-dollar figure late in a plan looks much larger than its purchasing power. Use the Today's $ / Future $ toggle to switch every figure in the app.

A pension with no cost-of-living adjustment is constant in future dollars and shrinks every year in today's dollars.

Sources

RetIQ term — RetIQ User Manual, Navigation and Layout: Today's $ / Future $
The current-year figures and the numbers from your own plan appear inside RetIQ. Open the app →

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