Only an idiot would put their dollars in a shoe box and then do a Rip Van Winkle for decades and then be surprised their shoe box dollars could not buy as much today as they did back then.
When you sell your stocks or house acquired decades ago, do you get the number of dollars it was was valued at then? NO! YOU GET NUMBER OF DOLLARS IT IS VALUED AT IN 2021, NOT 1990. Is your employer still paying you the same hourly wage or salary you got in 1990? NO! They are paying you 2021 inflation adjusted dollars. If you provide a service, do you still charge the same dollars you did in 1990? NO, YOU CHARGE 2021 inflation dollars. And so forth for all services and assets priced in dollars.
That's why those idiotic gold bug charts showing the dollar "losing" 97% of it's value since 1913 are so deceitful and misleading.
The "gold bugs" have always annoyed me. For decades I have heard their spiel yet they are always so eager to take my "soon to be worthless" dollars in exchange for their precious gold.
Yes, you get back dollars valued in today’s current value.
If you invested in the stock market and did average - about 9% - you would net ~6% after losing purchasing power.
If you invested in stocks at a bad time, your return may be zero and you average a loss of -3% per year in purchasing power.