The ostrich has never improved a bank balance

PARNALL SYLVESTER AUGUSTUS

There is a name for what happens when someone earns a salary, feels broke every month, and quietly stops checking their bank balance. Behavioural economists call it the Ostrich Effect.

The idea is simple: when financial information feels threatening, people avoid it. Not because they are irresponsible. Because avoidance, in the short-term, works. The anxiety disappears the moment you close the app.

The problem is that the balance does not disappear with it.