Speaking of Psychology The psychology of spending, debt and budgeting, with Abigail Sussman, PhD
Apr 8, 2026
Abigail Sussman, PhD, behavioral researcher and marketing professor at Chicago Booth, explores why payment plans and retail tactics change how we feel about purchases. She discusses why installments make spending feel cheaper, why we miss irregular expenses, how social comparison drives conspicuous buying, and practical fixes like adding friction and realistic buffers.
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Installments Make Items Feel Affordable
- Buy now pay later plans make purchases feel cheaper by showing only the immediate installment instead of the full price.
- Abigail Sussman explains seeing $25 today for a $100 item dissociates future payments and leads people to buy more without feeling it.
We Ignore One Offs Yet They Always Reappear
- People systematically underpredict irregular or outlier expenses because they project their modal spending forward.
- Sussman compares this to financial analysts who remove unusual items, but in consumers' lives other one-offs fill the gap.
Pause To Identify Upcoming One Offs
- Pause and explicitly reflect on what will be different next month to surface nonrecurring expenses.
- Sussman notes simple reflection helps people identify likely one-offs so they can budget a placeholder buffer.