Real Terms (also known as 'inflation-adjusted terms') is a way of measuring value that strips away the distorting effects of inflation. Think of it as adjusting for the changing cost of living to see what your money is really worth. Imagine you get a 5% pay raise. Fantastic! But if the price of everything you buy—from coffee to cars—went up by 7% that same year, are you actually better off? In nominal terms (the face value of your money), you have more euros or dollars. But in real terms, your purchasing power has actually decreased by 2%. For an investor, this concept is paramount. It's the difference between watching your account balance grow and watching your actual wealth grow. Focusing on real terms helps you pierce through the “money illusion“—the common cognitive bias of valuing money for its face value rather than what it can buy—and understand if your investments are truly winning the race against the silent erosion of your capital by inflation.
For a value investing practitioner, thinking in real terms isn't an academic exercise; it's the foundation of prudent capital allocation. Inflation is a persistent, invisible hurdle that every investment must clear just to maintain its value. Any return below the rate of inflation represents a genuine loss of wealth. Ignoring this reality can lead to disastrously poor decisions. An investor might celebrate a bond that yields 3% a year, feeling safe and secure. However, if inflation is running at 4%, they are locking in a guaranteed 1% loss of purchasing power each year. Their capital is shrinking, not growing. The goal of investing isn't just to accumulate more currency units; it's to increase your command over real goods and services in the future. By always translating nominal figures back into real terms, you keep your eyes on the prize: the growth of your real-world wealth.
You don't need a Ph.D. in economics to calculate real returns. There are two simple ways to do it.
For most situations, a quick subtraction is all you need to get a very close estimate. This is the go-to method for quickly assessing performance.
If you want to be technically precise, the actual formula is a little more involved because the effects of returns and inflation compound.
As you can see, the quick method got us very close (7% vs. 6.8%). For mental math and everyday analysis, the simple subtraction works just fine.
Applying this concept transforms how you analyze opportunities and measure success.
A savvy investor always looks at a company's growth in real terms. A business that boasts 5% revenue growth might look healthy at first glance. But if inflation is also 5%, the company hasn't grown at all in real terms—it has simply kept pace. A truly great business demonstrates pricing power: the ability to raise its prices faster than its costs increase, thus growing its profits in real, inflation-adjusted terms. When you analyze a company's historical financial data, always mentally subtract the inflation rate for those years to see the true growth story.
Your financial goals should be framed in real terms. Aiming to retire with “$1 million” is a fuzzy target because you don't know what $1 million will buy in 25 years. A better goal is to aim for a portfolio that generates a specific amount of today's purchasing power. This forces you to seek a rate of return that beats inflation by a comfortable margin of safety, ensuring your future lifestyle isn't a victim of a devalued currency.
When you hear that the long-term average return of the S&P 500 is about 10% per year, remember that this is a nominal figure. Over the long run, U.S. inflation has averaged around 3%. Therefore, the historical real return on stocks has been closer to 7%. Understanding this provides a much more sober and realistic expectation for long-term wealth creation. It's the 7% you can actually feel, not the 10% you see on a statement.