Mental accounting in practice

Do you also treat your Christmas bonus, your 13th salary or found money differently? Maybe you spend this money more loosely or it gives you a different feeling than normal earned money.

Scientists talk about this tendency as so-called "Mental Accounting" or in German "Mental accounting". [1]

Which Mental accounting pitfalls how you can be smarter in practice, and what role your Zak account You can find out more about this in this article.

Keep real, rather than mental, sub-accounts with Zak

Let's say you have just won CHF 10,000 in a lottery. Mentally, most people assign this amount to a "Raffle Account" to.

If you're like most people, you're now more inclined to take that Spending money frivolously. You might even find it much invest more riskilythan your hard-earned salary.

Does this also apply to you? This is what happens to many people, like Studies in the field of so-called behavioural economics show.[2]

We are probably all like that, after all, we are not 100%ig rational beings. But a franc is actually always a franc. He doesn't care where he comes from or what you do with him.

Such a Mental accounting brings some disadvantages with it. So why don't you keep real sub-accounts like you do in accounting?

How you can Sub-accounts with Zak's savings pots and what advantages this brings with it, you can find out now!

The disadvantages of mental accounting

Budgets for different areas of life may seem to make sense. Presumably you also have a real or mental account for:

Reserves for emergencies
Cost of living
Vacation
Reserve for old age
Risky investment
...

Such mental sub-accounts can be useful, but there are no Two optimisations an:

Lead your mental sub-accounts as real savings pots on an account (for example with Zak). This leads to the fact that you ...
Yours View savings pots as total assets can.

For science shows in the field of behavioural economics how irrational we otherwise act. The above example was certainly understandable to you: Money won from a raffle is not worth less than hard-earned money.

It doesn't matter for your finances what the amount X was for, or where it came from. The fact is: If you have spent the amount, it is missing.

The missing amount no longer counts towards your total assets and can't serve you any further. Keeping a budget per area of life is definitely helpful, don't get me wrong. But keep in mind that rational decisions always on your total assets available are based should.

Whether you can buy a flat, for example, depends on how your overall financial situation looks like. Less important is how much money is currently in your mental account "house purchase".

Top recommendations for 2026

Your key to success! Discover our top recommendations from real testimonials.

Optimise the disadvantages of mental accounting with Zak

With the Free account from Zak you can Sub-accounts or savings pots create. You can assign these to certain targets and thus create a Clear breakdown for your household budget receive.

This brings two major advantages:

The amounts are mathematically correct divided into accounts and not just pi by thumb in your head.
You always see a General overview from the sum of all savings pots. This way you don't fall into the trap of mental accounting and know your total assets exactly.

If you have your Finances with sub-accounts If you want to set up a safe and well-arranged room, you can do this with Zak.

Zak offers you a free bank account including a Visa debit card. And the best part?

You even get CHF 50 starting creditwhen you register the Code CHFRAN enter!

Our financial tips for 2026

"Intelligent people learn from the mistakes of others".

We have compiled our top selection for you from all our tests and experience reports:

Conclusion on Mental Accounting

The Budget management for different areas of life is meaningful and Provides an overview. However, as science shows, we often fall into irrational behaviour patterns and do not always handle our money sensibly.

Fortunately, you can counteract the negative effects of mental bookkeeping with real savings pots meet. This way you always know how large your total assets are. This central information allows you to Intelligent and rational financial decisions to meet.

Sources:

Transparency Note: This article was created in collaboration with Zak from Bank Cler. The content and presentation have nevertheless been freely and independently designed by Schwiizerfranke.

The information on Zak is intended exclusively for persons domiciled in Switzerland. A Zak account can only be opened with domicile in Switzerland.

4 responses

Blog 99bit says:

28. December 2022 at 17:13

Happy New Year and here's to a successful New Year!

Reply
manu says:

21. December 2022 at 15:36

Can you explain about the pots a bit more?
So I pay a certain fixed monthly amount into my "life" account. So far so good.
First question: How do the fixed costs now get into the pots (e.g. for car costs, taxes, holidays)? Do I have to move them every time, or can they be automated?
Second question: there is a bill coming for the last car service. I would like to pay this from the car expenses pot. How do I proceed? Do I first have to call the desired amount back into being so that I can make the payment or can I specify which pot he should use when making a payment?
Thank you very much. Greetings Manu

Reply
1. Eric says:
  
  23. December 2022 at 8:44
  
  Hello Manu
  mental accounting and real sub-accounts are two different shoes. Here there is a Contribution to the account system and how exactly you put it into practice. That should help you 🙂
  
  Reply
2. Patrick says:
  
  23. December 2022 at 13:02
  
  1. moving from the "Life" pot to the other pots can be automated. Simply create a standing order within a pot.
  2. you can pay bills directly from a specific pot.
  
  Reply

Write a comment