MENTAL ACCOUNTING Researchers have found that consumers use mental accounting
when they handle their money.78 Mental accounting refers to the way consumers code, categorize,
and evaluate financial outcomes of choices. Formally, it is “the tendency to categorize funds or
items of value even though there is no logical basis for the categorization, e.g., individuals often
segregate their savings into separate accounts to meet different goals even though funds from any
of the accounts can be applied to any of the goals.