Why Your Brain Treats Gift Cards as Free Money

In this episode of The Money Mindset Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore the psychology behind gift cards—why we treat them as 'found money' even though they are anything but. We break down the $25 billion annual gift card market, examine the phenomenon of 'breakage' (unredeemed balances), and discuss why retailers love gift cards more than cash. We also look at a 2022 study from the Journal of Consumer Research showing that people spend 12-18% more when using a gift card versus cash. Finally, we tackle the case of T-Mobile's 2020 'free money' stock split that actually was free money—and what that tells us about mental accounting. If you've ever felt richer with a $50 gift card than a $50 bill, this episode will explain why. #GiftCardPsychology #MentalAccounting #FoundMoney #BehavioralFinance #ConsumerBehavior #RetailStrategy #BreakageRevenue #JournalOfConsumerResearch #T-Mobile #StockSplit #FinancialMyths #SpendingHabits #MoneyMindset #Finance #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #BehavioralEconomics #WealthThinking Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo