Real interest rate

The rate of interest excluding the effect of expected inflation; that is, the rate that is earned in terms of constant-purchasing-power dollars. Interest rate expressed in terms of real goods, i.e. nominal interest rate adjusted for expected inflation.

Real Interest Rate

An interest rate after accounting for inflation. A nominal interest rate shows by how much an investment or account has grown in raw dollar amounts and may not be an accurate accounting of how well or poorly an investment is performing. The real interest rate adjusts for how much buying power has been affected and, therefore, provides a more accurate view. For example, if one has bond with a 5% coupon, and the inflation rate is 3%, the real interest rate is only 2%. The real interest rate does not take compounding into account.

real interest rate

The nominal current interest rate minus the rate of inflation. For example, an investor holding a 10% certificate of deposit during a period of 6% annual inflation would be earning a real interest rate of 4%. The real interest rate is a more valid measure of the desirability of an investment than the nominal rate is.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms for Today's Investor by David L. Scott. Copyright © 2003 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.

Real interest rate.

Your real interest rate is the interest rate you earn on an investment minus the rate of inflation.

For example, if you're earning 6.25% on a bond, and the inflation rate is 2%, your real rate is 4.25%. That's enough higher than inflation to maintain your buying power and have some in reserve, which you could use to build your investment base.

But if the inflation rate were 5%, your real rate would be only 1.25%.

real interest rate

the INTEREST RATE paid on a LOAN, adjusted for the effects of INFLATION. Thus, for example, if a borrower were to pay a 10% NOMINAL INTEREST RATE on a loan during a year when the inflation rate was 6%, then the ‘real’ interest rate would be only 4%. Inflation reduces the real burden of interest payments to borrowers while reducing the real return to lenders.

Collins Dictionary of Economics, 4th ed. © C. Pass, B. Lowes, L. Davies 2005

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