Inflation edges down but savers left 'high and dry' At Hargreaves Lansdown, the fund supermarket, senior investment manager Adrian Lowcock calculated that at today's rate, inflation would erode 50pc of the value of cash within 26 years. He said almost 10pc of the spending power of cash had been lost since rates fell to 0.5pc in March 2009 - where they have since remained. Mr Lowcock added: "The long-term effects of inflation on your money are huge. Since March 2009 the cost of goods and services has risen by 14.8pc. Cash has risen by only 3.4pc so the value of savings has been eroded by 9.9pc. Moneyfacts, the rate analyst, calculates that of 840 cash Isas and ordinary, non-Isa accounts available, just three beat inflation for those savers paying tax. Sylvia Waycot of Moneyfacts said: "Inflation may have fallen but it is still high enough to ruin the spending power of any feeble interest paid on today's savings accounts, which leaves the elderly reliant on savings income and the young saving for a house deposit high and dry. Taking into account the taxman's share and the cost of living, savers need an account paying a hefty 3.38pc before they earn a real rate of return - and yet the average no-notice savings account only pays a miserable 0.67pc. Just one year ago there were 129 Isas accounts that beat tax and inflation out of a total of 1,017 accounts. Today that choice has dropped to two Isas. She also noted that the average interest paid across the Isa range was just 1.7pc whereas a year ago it was 2.39pc.