Understanding the mental accounting helps with spending, budgeting and investing decisions. Mental accounting means that people mentally divide their assets and income into buckets. Depending on the mental account, vastly different decisions are made regarding the money. Even though money should be exchangeable. Scientists mainly seem to be interested in trying to predict and explain behavior, so they do not necessarily label mental accounting as a negative thing. There can indeed be some positive aspects to mental accounting. However, when a mental accounting decision has a negative impact on current or future net worth and there appears to be no rational motive for it, it is a mental accounting error.