Dashr has launched a free Personal Inflation Calculator designed to help New Zealanders understand how inflation affects their own household spending.
The tool is available now at dashr.nz and allows users to calculate a personal inflation rate based on their individual spending patterns. It uses Statistics New Zealand Consumer Price Index subgroup data to compare a household’s spending mix with official inflation measures.
New Zealand’s annual Consumers Price Index inflation rate was 3.1 percent in the year to the March 2026 quarter, according to Stats NZ. However, individual households can experience price changes differently depending on how much they spend on areas such as rent or mortgage costs, groceries, energy, insurance, transport, rates, health, and telecommunications.
Dashr’s Personal Inflation Calculator is designed to make that difference easier to understand.
Users can either enter spending manually across common household categories or upload a CSV export from their bank. CSV analysis runs in the browser, and transaction data is not uploaded. The tool maps spending categories to relevant Stats NZ subgroups and calculates a weighted personal inflation rate.
The calculator also shows two additional comparisons:
Real income change, based on wage growth compared with the user’s personal inflation rate.
Real savings return, based on an indicative six-month term deposit return after resident withholding tax, compared with the user’s personal inflation rate.
“One of the biggest misunderstandings around inflation is the difference between prices falling and prices rising more slowly. A lower inflation rate may reduce some pressure, but it does not usually mean groceries, power, insurance, or rates return to previous levels” explains Filmer.
Dashr founder Tom Filmer said the goal of the tool is to make inflation data more practical for households.
“Headline inflation is useful at a national level, but households do not all spend in the same way,” said Filmer. “A personal inflation rate helps people see how price changes relate to their own spending, income, and savings.”
“Many Kiwis are understandably frustrated when they hear headline inflation is below 4 percent, but the bills they actually pay tell a different story. Insurance, rates, groceries, fuel, and other essentials have all risen sharply for many households, and those increases compound over time. That can make the official number feel disconnected from everyday reality.”
“The calculator supports Dashr’s mission of providing Kiwi’s visibility and education over their finances, not financial advice. It gives users a clearer number to work from when thinking about their household budget.”
The Personal Inflation Calculator is free to use and does not require a login. It joins Dashr’s existing set of free tools covering KiwiSaver, mortgage stress testing, statement analysis, and policy impact modelling.
Dashr says the calculator will be updated as new official inflation data becomes available.
Data sources
The calculator uses publicly available data from Statistics New Zealand, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and related official datasets, including the Consumers Price Index, Labour Cost Index, household inflation expectations, and retail interest rate data.
About Dashr
Dashr is a New Zealand startup focused on financial visibility and education for New Zealanders. Its free online tools are designed to help users better understand areas such as household spending, inflation, savings, KiwiSaver, mortgage stress, and financial policy impacts.
Media Release on 30 May 2026
Media Contact
Tom Filmer
Founder, Dashr
Email: tom@dashr.nz
Phone: +64223211231
Website: https://dashr.nz/