The MoneyCurio blog
Short, data-driven stories about money — built from the same public data that powers our tools. No hot takes, no stock tips; just numbers worth knowing.
August 7, 2026
The raise you needed just to stand still
A pay rise below inflation is a pay cut. Here is exactly how much salaries had to grow in 21 countries between 2020 and 2025 to buy the same life.
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August 7, 2026
Did gold actually protect against inflation?
Gold is called an inflation hedge. Over 45 years it beat US inflation — and over one twenty-year stretch inside that it lost most of its purchasing power. Both are true.
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August 7, 2026
Where the world's middle actually sits
The world's median income per person is a fraction of any rich country's middle. What that comparison shows, what it hides, and why it is not a lecture.
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August 7, 2026
The same years of inflation, lived in 21 different currencies
The same span of years multiplied prices by 1.2 in one country and by tens of thousands in another. What that gap really measures — and what it does not.
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August 7, 2026
The salary ranking changes once you pay local prices
Rank countries by average pay and you get one list. Rank them by what that pay buys at local prices and the order changes. The same numbers, two very different tables.
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August 7, 2026
The latte factor, checked against the actual numbers
A $5 daily coffee invested for 30 years at the S&P 500's long-run rate becomes a real sum — and still isn't a financial plan. The honest arithmetic, both halves.
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August 7, 2026
The Rule of 72: mental math for doubling your money
Divide 72 by your annual return and you get the years it takes money to double. Why the trick works, where it breaks, and what the long-run average hides.
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July 28, 2026
What $1,000 invested ten years ago would be worth today
NVIDIA turned $1,000 into $73,600 in ten years — beating Bitcoin. But both fell over 50% along the way. The full, honest numbers.
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July 28, 2026
What is $100 from 1990 worth today? It depends wildly on where you lived
In Japan prices barely moved since 1990. In Brazil they multiplied 200,000-fold. A data tour of 35 years of inflation across 10 countries.
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July 28, 2026
How long would it take to count a billion dollars?
One dollar per second, day and night: a million takes 12 days, a billion takes 31.7 years. The math that makes billionaire wealth graspable.
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July 28, 2026
The same salary feels rich in one country and tight in another. Here's the math
A $60,000 salary feels like $96,000 in Japan and $54,000 in Switzerland. Price-level data from the World Bank explains why geography changes your paycheck.
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