Yesterday I told you that 13% CDT every neobank sells as a gift wasn’t as good a deal as it looked. Colombia’s national statistics agency just proved me right — and worse than I expected.

The number that jumped when no one expected it

In August, Colombia’s monthly inflation came in at 0.39%, above market consensus. The annual rate landed at 6.24%, up from 6.03% in July — the second straight acceleration, not one-month noise. The January-August cumulative already totals 5.35%. And all of this sits well above the central bank’s target range of 3% plus or minus one point.

What nobody tells you when CPI rises

When I wrote the CDT piece, I calculated that 13% rate’s real return discounting 6.24% inflation. That calculation already fell short — and not in a good way. Every additional point of inflation shrinks what you actually keep after taxes, and that’s not just a problem for CDT holders: it’s a problem for anyone negotiating a raise off a six-month-old number, anyone receiving a lagging-indexed pension, and the central bank itself, which faces its next rate decision on September 30 with a number that makes cutting rates — as many expected — harder to justify. Less rate relief means more expensive credit for longer — for mortgages, for businesses, for you.

The real opportunity: stop looking at the headline number

The nominal rate is marketing. What decides whether an instrument protects you or bleeds you is the real rate, after taxes, measured against the inflation you’ll actually face — not the one the central bank promised a year ago. If you’re saving, demand that calculation before you sign. If you’re negotiating salary, use the 5.35% cumulative and the trend, not last year’s number. And if you run a business, budget assuming this inflation could stay “stuck” above target longer than the central bank admits in public — not that it converges quickly to 3% by 2027 as it keeps claiming.

Are you deciding with the number they’re selling you, or the one that actually lands in your pocket after taxes and inflation? That question — not the CDT headline or the inflation headline — is what separates reacting from deciding with judgment.

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