More pay, less in the trolley

Three percent more pay sounds good until the shopping gets dearer. What is left of the raise is the part the prices have not already eaten.

Most people subtract in their head: three percent more pay minus two percent inflation makes one percent. That is nearly right and always a little too optimistic, because the correct way is to divide and not to subtract.

Enter what you take home per month and the result stops being a percentage and becomes an amount.