Value of Money

[Oates]

I was looking for a site to find out how much the money an ancestor left in his will would be worth today and came across this site:

http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/current/howmuch.html

A comprehensive list of websites helping to answer the question "how much would a specified amount of money at a certain period of time be worth today?" including prices of everyday items, typical wages and the cost of living amongst other things.

[Guy Etchells]

Unfortunately when calculating the value of money it is very much user beware.
There is no exact way to extrapolate the purchasing power over more than a few years.
Cheers
Guy

[Oates]

Unfortunately when calculating the value of money it is very much user beware.
There is no exact way to extrapolate the purchasing power over more than a few years.
Cheers
Guy
Hence the large number of links including price lists.

One thing I found strange though, according to one of the sites (http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/):

In 2005, £5 0s 0d from 1934 was worth:

£236.44 using the retail price index
£250.89 using the GDP deflator
£886.99 using average earnings
£1,050.67 using per capita GDP
£1,355.62 using the GDP

Whichever value is used that seems like an awful lot of money. According to police pub records, £5 was the fine for supplying liquor during non permitted hours in 1934. Alternatively, the landlord could serve 28 days in prison. Seems a little extortionate...