South African: Money Supply Comparison Tool
Compare price, salary or net worth against the amount of rands in the economy
When M3 money supply grows, each rand in your bank account represents a smaller share of the total rands in the economy. This comparison tool lets you measure whether your salary, an asset, or any rand amount kept pace with the expanding money supply over a specific date range.
Enter two dates and two amounts to compare. The first amount is the starting value at the earlier date. The second amount is the ending value at the later date. The tool calculates how much M3 money supply grew over the same period and compares your amount's growth against it. If your amount grew faster than M3, your purchasing power improved. If it grew slower, you lost ground even if your rand balance increased.
For example, compare a salary from 5 years ago against today's salary, or compare a property's purchase price against its current market value. The M3 growth rate serves as a baseline — the minimum rate your money needs to grow to maintain its share of the monetary system.