We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Resources for realistic inflation figures

The official inflation number is around 9-10%, but we all know that's fiddled by the government to look good. What resources are available for realistic figures?

I remember the BBC had a personal inflation calculator, but it hasn't been updated since 2010. Anything current like that?

I will need to evaluate the offer my employer makes, and decide if it's time to move on.

Comments

  • Marcon
    Marcon Posts: 15,031 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Googling on your question might have been both quicker and easier, if you're only after simple facts rather than opinions!  
  • Thanks. I put my numbers in and it's looking pretty grim.
  • Linton
    Linton Posts: 18,353 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Hung up my suit!
    edited 24 January at 4:59PM
    The official inflation number is around 9-10%, but we all know that's fiddled by the government to look good. What resources are available for realistic figures?

    I remember the BBC had a personal inflation calculator, but it hasn't been updated since 2010. Anything current like that?

    I will need to evaluate the offer my employer makes, and decide if it's time to move on.
    CPI is not fiddled by the government to look good.  It is calculated by professional statisticians in the ONS.  Think about it - if every year's inflation figure was under reported the cumulative effect over a decade or more would be very high and easily shown to be wrong.  Generating non-contradictory fiddled figures is a lot more difficult than simply using real ones.

    Whether a figure is realistic for you is dependent on your spending pattern.

    I have been keeping detailed data on my day to day spending for the past 17 years.  Overall the increase is very close to that indicated by the CPI.
  • ReadingTim
    ReadingTim Posts: 4,087 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    The "fiddle" is which measure is used (i.e. CPI vs RPI) not how each measure is calculated.  
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 352.2K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.6K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 454.3K Spending & Discounts
  • 245.2K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 600.9K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177.5K Life & Family
  • 259.1K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.7K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.