As psychologists have shown, people are susceptible to "wishful thinking bias," wishing away possible future problems that they would rather not think about. They may overemphasize the likelihood of economic success ("I will be making a lot more money in a few years") and underemphasize the commonplace problems that regularly challenge family budgets ("I will be losing my job or getting a divorce").
心理学家们指出许多人都容易罹患"妄想偏见"，不愿设想自己所不愿考虑但却极可能发生的事。他们可能会过度强调经济成功的可能性（"我会在未来几年赚很多钱"）但却对时时威胁家庭预算的问题考虑不足（"我会失业或离婚"）。