Definition
Mental accounting refers to the cognitive approach that individuals use to categorize, assess, and manage their finances and economic decisions. This concept explains how people divide their assets into separate mental compartments based on subjective criteria, which can affect their spending habits and investment decisions. It illustrates that people treat money differently, depending on its source and intended use.
Phonetic
The phonetics for “Mental Accounting” is: /ˈmɛntəl əˈkaʊntɪŋ/
Key Takeaways
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- Behavioral Influence: Mental accounting influences how individuals make financial decisions. An individual’s cognitive behavior plays a major part in how they manage their finances, categorize funds and evaluate gains and losses.
- Separation of Accounts: One of the most distinctive features of mental accounting is the tendency of people to separate their money and expenses into different accounts based on subjective criteria. These mentally segregated accounts can broadly be categorized into current income, current wealth, and future income.
- Framing Effect: Mental accounting principles reveal that how a financial situation is framed or presented impacts decision-making. An individual is more likely to spend “found” money frivolously, but are more careful when spending their regular income, exemplifying the concept of the framing effect in mental accounting.
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Importance
Mental accounting is an important concept in business and finance because it reflects the psychological techniques people employ to manage their finances, helping to explain why they make certain financial decisions. It involves the practice of assigning value to money and categorizing funds according to different subjective criteria, like source of money or intended use. Understanding mental accounting offers valuable insights on spending behaviors and the mental separation of money into different accounts, which can lead to inconsistencies in personal financial decision-making. For businesses and financial advisors, a comprehensive understanding of mental accounting can help in creating more effective marketing strategies or financial plans, by aligning them with the psychological biases and behavioral patterns of consumers or clients.
Explanation
Mental accounting, a concept established by economist Richard Thaler, pertains to the cognitive approach adopted by individuals or businesses when making financial decisions. It explains how individuals categorize personal finances and the implications of those categories on their consumption patterns, savings, and general financial behaviors. Essentially, people don’t view all money as being equal. For instance, they often dedicate different pots of money to different domains (e.g., rent, entertainment, etc.), and are thus prone to making irrational decisions due to this categorization. One of the main purposes of mental accounting is to enable individuals to take better control of their finances by creating a clear picture of where their money is allotted. For example, having particular accounts for vacations, education, emergencies, and general living expenses helps ensure that each need is met without threatening the other. This concept also serves to prevent overspending and facilitates the disciplined management of money. However, it’s important to note that without careful management, mental accounting can also lead to financial oversights and irrational spending habits. In business, understanding mental accounting can help tailor marketing strategies to effectively influence consumer behavior.
Examples
1. Household Budget Management: Let’s consider the example of a family budget. The head of the household may allocate funds into separate mental accounts such as groceries, utilities, entertainment, and emergency funds. Each category is treated separately. Say, for example, they receive a pay hike, they may decide to only use this additional income on luxury items or savings, even though it could be used to cover other areas of expense as well. This is an instance of mental accounting, where they are mentally separating their funds and assigning them specific roles.2. Saving & Spending Behavior: Say an individual has set up a savings plan for a vacation and another without a specific goal. The person could arguably have a different approach to spending money from these two accounts. He/she might be less likely to spend money from the vacation account on everyday expenses due to the specific goal associated with it. This is an example of mental accounting influencing spending habits.3. Windfall Gains: Imagine you unexpectedly receive a tax refund. A person might classify this as “extra” money and feel more comfortable spending it on non-essential items. However, if we saw this as part of our normal income rather than categorizing it as a windfall, we might have saved it or used it to pay off debts. This decision-making process based on the source of the income is an example of mental accounting.
Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ)
What is Mental Accounting?
Mental accounting is a psychological and cognitive concept where individuals categorize and treat money differently depending on its source, intended use, or other subjective factors. It is a significant phenomenon in behavioural economics.
Who developed the concept of Mental Accounting?
The concept of Mental Accounting was developed by Richard H. Thaler, an American economist. He is known as one of the founding fathers of behavioural economics.
What is an example of Mental Accounting?
Let’s say you receive a tax refund for $2000. Despite having credit card debt or a mortgage, you might have a strong desire to use that ‘extra’ money for a vacation or to buy luxury items. This response is an example of mental accounting as you’re treating the tax refund differently from your regular salary, even though all money is fungible.
Does Mental Accounting affect decision making?
Yes, it significantly affects decision making. People irrationally assign different values to the same quantities of money, which can lead to inefficient financial behaviors.
How can one overcome the impact of Mental Accounting?
Firstly, one should be aware of the concept and how it influences their financial decisions. Creating a budget and sticking to it can also help. It’s also important to consider all money as the same, regardless of where it came from or how you plan to spend it.
Is Mental Accounting always negative?
Not necessarily. Mental accounting may sometimes lead to positive outcomes like encouraging savings or reducing unnecessary spending because people often assign a ‘non-spendable’ category to certain incomes.
Is Mental Accounting related to other psychological biases?
Yes, mental accounting often occurs with other biases like the endowment effect, sunk cost fallacy, and self-control issues. They collectively contribute to irrational financial decision-making.
Can organizations use Mental Accounting concepts to their advantage?
Yes, businesses often structure pricing, discounts, and special offers in ways that appeal to consumers’ mental accounting. Customer loyalty programs that provide bonuses or points are examples of exploiting mental accounting.
Related Finance Terms
- Behavioral Economics: The study of how individual, psychological, cognitive, emotional, cultural and social factors affect economic decisions of individuals and institutions.
- Framing: A concept similar to mental accounting, where individuals make decisions based on the way information is presented rather than the information itself.
- Heuristics: Mental shortcuts that ease the cognitive load of making decisions. Used often in mental accounting, where individuals group and categorize spending or income into separate mental accounts.
- Sunk Cost Fallacy: The misconception that one must continue an endeavor because of previously invested resources (time, money or effort). This is closely related to mental accounting as it can affect how individuals categorize and evaluate their expenses.
- Marginal Propensity to Consume (MPC): The increase in consumer spending due to an incremental increase in income. Mental accounting can have an impact on MPC as individuals may allocate income differently based on its source.
