Put $10,000 in T-bills in 2000 and it buys 16% less today

Safe cash earns interest, and interest feels like growth. Prices grew faster. Below, 79 years of real data: pick the month you started saving and watch what the money could actually buy.

Guess first

You put $10,000 into 3-month Treasury bills in January 2000 and roll them over every month, reinvesting all interest. Before any tax. In today's dollars, what is it worth in September 2026?

Pick your start month

Drag to change the year you started saving. The line is what the pile can buy, in September 2026 dollars. Above the dotted line you gained purchasing power, below it you lost it.

Every start year, one bar

Each bar is a different start year (January), ending September 2026: the real value of $10,000 as a multiple. Tap a bar to load that year above. Every start from 1947 to 1991 ended ahead of prices. Every start from 1992 to 2021 ended behind them.

How often did cash lose?

Sources and method

Rates: 3-Month Treasury Bill Secondary Market Rate, monthly average, series TB3MS, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System via FRED, fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TB3MS. Prices: Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, all items, seasonally adjusted, series CPIAUCSL, US Bureau of Labor Statistics via FRED, fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIAUCSL. Both downloaded from FRED on 20 October 2026; the latest month in both is September 2026. Method: each month the pile earns one twelfth of the previous month's annual bill rate, then is divided by the CPI change since the start month. Taxes and fees are ignored, and the monthly compounding is a simplification of real bill rollovers. Educational, not investment advice.