Exactly what you said at the end.
When they're pricing something at $999 instead of a grand that makes it feel like a better deal. Its a proven marketing trick just like splitting the actual price to many smaller payments and make it sound way better. Like car salesman they want to get your mind of that you're actually paying $42K for a car and just talk about the monthly payment.
If you want to think of it as about a coffee a day to justify it for your self then go for it. But those every day coffees for 2 years add up to the actual price of what you're paying at the end
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Its not about not being intelligent enough or being smart or stupid.
Just proven sales marketing strategies used over centuries.
Psychological pricing is part of marketing based on the theory that certain prices have a psychological impact. Retail prices are often expressed as "odd prices": a little less than a round number, e.g. $19.99 or £2.98. There's evidence that consumers tend to perceive “odd prices” as being significantly lower than they actually are, tending to round to the next lowest monetary unit. Thus, prices such as $1.99 are associated with spending $1 rather than $2. The theory that drives this is that lower pricing such as this institutes greater demand than if consumers were perfectly rational. Psychological pricing is one cause of price points.
Same thing with the monthly payment marketing technique over the actual full price