Hủy thẻ tín dụng và lưu ý vàng phải nhớ

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Dear Dan,

One of my credit cards (thẻ tín dụng) bears the words “member since 1989.” The truth is that I haven’t used this card in years, even though I pay a $95 annual fee (phí thường niên) for it. But I can’t seem to bring myself to cancel (hủy) it, simply because of that “member since 1989”! It feels like I would be giving up a status (địa vị, thân phận, thân thế) I’ve been building for 30 years. Why is it so hard for me to make what is clearly the rational (có lý trí, dựa trên lý trí) financial decision (quyết định tài chính)?

—Arielle 

You’re suffering from what economists call the “sunk cost fallacy.” (ngụy biện chi phí chìm) To understand how this works, imagine you have spent 15 hours writing a new book, and you have 50 more hours to put in before you’re finished. Then you learn that someone else’s book on the exact same subject will be coming out next week. Should you keep working on your book for another 50 hours? Most people would say no—why spend so much time on a project that is unlikely to be successful?

But now imagine that instead of 15 hours, you have invested 1,500 hours in writing your book. In that case, would you put in another 50 hours to get it done? Now most people would say yes—if you’ve already spent 1,500 hours on something, why not put in the last 50 to finish it?

In both cases you are being asked to make the same amount of effort for the same doubtful result. But when you’ve invested a lot of time—or a lot of money—it’s hard to make the rational decision to write off (bỏ đi) your sunk cost and shift your resources to something better.

You’re facing a similar problem when it comes to your credit card. To make the decision clearer, ask yourself if you would keep paying for the card if it only said “member since 2019.” If your answer is yes, then keep it; if the answer is no, it’s clear that you are a victim of the sunk cost fallacy and you should cancel the card now, before that cost gets even bigger.

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