You’ve decided to finally be an adult. You want to save ₦5 million in 3 years for that car, business, or wedding. You did the math, you need to save about ₦139,000 per month. You got this.

Plot twist: inflation doesn’t care about your plans.

By the time you save that ₦5 million in 3 years, it might only buy what ₦2.8 million can buy today. The car you wanted? Price don went up. The business? Startup costs doubled. The wedding? Lol, good luck.

This calculator shows you how much you actually need to save to account for inflation eating your money while you stack it.

Here’s the play:

Step 1: Enter your savings goal in naira. Be honest. ₦5 million? ₦10 million? ₦50 million for that house?

Step 2: Slide the “Time to Save” slider. How many years are you giving yourself? 1 year? 5 years? 10 years if you’re really patient?

Step 3: Adjust the expected annual inflation rate. The calculator defaults to 22% (Nigeria’s recent average), but you can slide it between 5% to 35% depending on how optimistic or realistic you want to be.

Step 4: Hit “Calculate Real Target”

What the results tell you: Stop Lying to Yourself

The big number at the top is what you actually need to save to match your goal’s buying power. Not the number you were thinking, but the real number after inflation.

Below that, you’ll see:

• Your original goal
• Extra money needed because of inflation
• Monthly savings required to hit the adjusted target

Real scenario:

You want to save ₦5 million in 5 years. Sounds achievable. You calculated ₦83,333 per month and called it a day.

The calculator says: “Oga, you need ₦13.5 million to match that buying power in 5 years.”

Your monthly savings? Not ₦83,333. Try ₦225,000. Suddenly that goal isn’t looking so easy.

The smart tip:

The calculator drops a truth bomb at the bottom. It tells you inflation will reduce your money’s value by X% over your saving period, and suggests you invest in assets that grow faster than inflation.

Translation: stop keeping all your money in a regular savings account paying you 3% interest while inflation is running at 20%+. You’re volunteering to be poor.

Action step:

Use this calculator before you set any savings goal. Then either adjust your monthly savings amount, find ways to make your money work harder (invest it), or extend your timeline. But don’t just wing it and hope inflation takes a vacation.