The Rational Reminder Podcast · Thursday, September 10, 2026
A 2008 paper by Scott Rick and colleagues defined spending behaviors on a spectrum from 'tight wads' to 'spend thrifts.' Tight wads experience pain from spending, leading them to spend less than they ideally would, while spend thrifts feel too little pain and overspend.
“The key difference between those two profiles, those two ends of the spectrum or the scale, is how they experience what the authors call an anticipatory pain of pain. So that's an immediate emotional response felt at the moment of purchase rather than a rational calculation about future consequences or payoffs.”
“The difference is that tight wads feel that pain of spending money too acutely. And they spend less than they would ideally like to.”
“And then the other end of the spectrum, spend thrifts, they tend to feel too little anticipatory pain when spending, and they end up spending more than they would ideally like to.”