The Silent Tax: How Inflation Erodes Wealth and What You Can Do About It

Inflation erodes purchasing power, making it harder to detect and more dangerous

- Swarup Anand Mohanty

We often worry about market crashes, interest rate hikes, or GDP slowdowns. But the real threat to your money is far more silent—and far more dangerous.

Inflation doesn’t roar. It whispers.

Think of a frog in gradually boiling water. It doesn’t realize the danger—until it’s too late. That’s inflation. It doesn’t break headlines like a stock market crash. It doesn’t dominate news cycles like central bank rate decisions. But it’s always there—quietly eroding the value of your money, one percentage point at a time.

When markets drop, portfolios flash red. But inflation works differently. It doesn’t shock; it erodes. And unlike market volatility—which is temporary—inflation’s impact is permanent, especially if you don’t act on it.

Post-pandemic, inflation has evolved. It’s no longer just about food or oil prices. It’s now about wage shifts, broken supply chains, and new global trade equations. Western economies saw inflation spike to multi-decade highs. In India, inflation stayed stubbornly above target. And though central banks have tightened policy, such measures take time to trickle through. Meanwhile, the common saver is already feeling the pinch.

Your 6% returns aren’t really 6%