Smoking Facts | Tips on Stopping Smoking
Despite well-documented health-related smoking facts and abundant tips on stopping smoking in wellness and general interest magazines, people are still taking up smoking or refusing to quit. Well if the health-related consequences of smoking aren’t going to deter them, I’m hoping the financial cost of smoking will. So here in this post the focus is solely going to be on aspects of smoking that hurt the wallet. Hopefully after reading it, hopefully it will ring a (financial) bell.
This piece is (totally) inspired by MSN Money’s “The High Cost of Smoking” article
Smoking Facts
Average cost of a pack of cigarettes. The cost of a pack of cigarettes averages about $4.49 nationwide, including taxes.
It Makes It Harder to get a job. Overall, 5% of employers prefer to hire nonsmokers, according to the most recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, and 1% do not hire smokers.
You earn less money. Numerous studies find that smokers earn anywhere from 4% to 11% less than nonsmokers. It’s not just a loss of productivity to smoke breaks and poorer health that takes a financial toll, researchers theorize; smokers are perceived to be less attractive and successful as well.
Harmful Effects of Smoking.
Harmful smoking effects can impact literally every aspect of your financial picture. Examples:
You pay higher health care premiums. According to eHealthInsurance.com, the monthly premium for a policy from Regence Blue Shield with a $1,500 deductible for a 44-year-old male nonsmoker is $239. The same policy for a smoker is $276 per month. He will pay $444 more per year.
You pay higher life insurance premiums. According to online quotes on 20-year term life insurance (a $500,000 policy) for a healthy 44-year-old male through BudgetLife.com, the range for a nonsmoker was $570 to $1,035 in premiums per year; for someone smoking a pack a day, the prices skyrocketed to as much as $4,250 per year.
You pay higher homeowner’s insurance premiums. When shopping for homeowners insurance, nonsmokers can generally expect to receive a minimum 10% discount, according to Ray Neumiller, an agent with Farmer’s Insurance in Seattle. The insurer’s point of view: Smokers burn down houses.
You get a lower resale value for your car. The one place many smokers feel free and comfortable to light up is in their car. Without consistent and thorough cleanings, however, the interior of a car that is smoked in will soon start showing it : the smell, stray ashes, cigarette butts burning holes in it, and so on. If you have to sell the car, account for a minimum of $150 for a good cleaning with an extractor. On a trade-in, dealers can easily knock off more than $1,000 on higher-end vehicles like vans. Don’t give that slick salesman an extra reason to drive down your price!
You get a lower resale value for your house. Smokers’ houses often require all new paint and/or wall treatments, as well as professional drapery and carpet cleaning. According to Contractors.com, priming and painting an average-size living room, dining room and two bedrooms would cost around $2,100. The Carpet Buying Handbook puts the average cleaning cost per square foot at 28 cents, and the average home has 1,000 square feet of carpet. That’s $280. Add $55 to clean a typical sofa and $25 for a chair, says Diversified Carpet in San Diego. Walt Molony with the National Association of Realtors says that “certainly the smell of cigarettes can be a turnoff to potential buyers,” but he notes that it is less of a problem in tight housing markets.
Miscellaneous: gum and/or mints, teeth whitening, and dry cleaning. Bad breath, yellow teeth and smelly clothes are just a few of the personal side effects of smoking, and all cost money to correct. An extra pack of mints or gum a week adds up to about $50 per year. Need your teeth whitened once a year? Brite Smile, which has offices across the country, sells its service for $400 to $600. Most professional-grade teeth whitening products retail for a minimum of $200. Dry-cleaning bills are likely to be higher also. Clean that suit one extra time a month at a cost of $12, and there goes an additional $144.
Quit Smoking Symptoms
Savings, savings, and more savings. Based on the aforementioned $4.49 cost of a pack of cigarettes, a pack-a-day smoker (literally) burns through about $31.43 per week, or $1,635 per year. A 40-year-old who quits smoking and puts the savings into a 401(k) earning 9% a year would have nearly $250,000 by age 70!
That doesn’t even take into account all that money (shown previously) that you’re keeping in your pockets by not taking up (or when you stop) smoking. We’re talking about the indirect costs here: insurance, house, car, personal hygiene, and so on.
I don’t think you need more (financial) evidence of the harmful effects of smoking to agree that tips on stopping smoking are good to follow.
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