Discover what sunk costs are and how the sunk cost fallacy can impact decision-making in personal and business scenarios. Learn strategies to avoid common pitfalls.

Have you ever encountered a subpar hotel breakfast while on holiday? You don’t really like the food choices on offer, but since you already paid for the meal as part of your booking, you force ...

What happens when an entrepreneur realizes their project isn't delivering? It can create a crossroad between perseverance and prudence—the point where passion meets pragmatism. The resulting decision ...

The sunk cost fallacy addresses the tendency of people to continue on a suboptimal path because they have committed a lot of time or resources to it already. Investors, for example, may double down on ...

It was a Words with Friends chat that first gave Megan Phelps-Roper pause. People have a marked tendency to cling to past investments, whether financial, social, or emotional—even when it becomes ...

You research and pick a stock that you believe will rise. It does exactly that. Then, just as suddenly, it starts falling.

As some Republicans express buyer's remorse about Donald Trump's selection of J.D. Vance as the “worst choice” for vice president and Joe Biden ditches his stubbornness about staying in the 2024 ...

Human beings do not respond rationally to “sunk costs.” We persist in doing what we’ve always done because, well, that’s what we’ve always done. We confuse loyalty with stubbornness. We are reluctant ...

Many people in long-term relationships have used the same phrase to quiet thoughts of leaving: But it’s already been so long! If I leave now, all of that time and effort will go to waste. As it turns ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about relationships, personality, and everyday psychology. Unhappy relationships are an unfortunate reality for many.