Saturday, April 15, 2006

The Financial Cost of Smoking

Many people often talk about the costs related to smoking in terms of health, or future health care needs. However I would like to address the actual financial costs of smoking cigarettes on a daily basis. To follow are a few of the facts that come along with being a smoker.

Average smokers consume about 1 ½ packs of cigarettes per day. The cost of the average pack of smokes is around $4 after taxes. If you take this average and add up the costs for one year, it’s over $2,000 smokers spend on cigarettes. That’s a lot of cash to be spending on cigarettes.

Why it’s important to know these numbers is to understand the cost or burden it’s putting on you and your family. Smoking costs you more per day than you’re probably spending on lunch. If you consume a greater amount of cigarettes per day you could be even worse off financially. If you smoked 2 packs a day in New York City, you would be spending over $5,000 per year on cigarettes.

The things could do with this smoking money are endless. You could start a business, or buy that new computer you always wanted. You can upgrade your car with that money. You can even start to save for a larger purchase, because in the years to come there will be more cash just the same. If you have college loans, let’s say $30,000 worth, in just over 14 years your entire loans would be paid off from money you used to spend on cigarettes.

Interesting investments don’t just come in the form of real estate, or stocks. You could initially take the money you’re saving from not smoking and purchase some stress relieving supplements to keep you smoke free. One company that has such supplements is NicoDrops (www.nicodrops.com), the organic all natural stress relieving drop. Or maybe a gum like Nicorette (www.nicorette.com), which is more expensive, but still far cheaper then smoking! By investing in staying smoke free, you are truly investing in your future.

Nicolas Gremion is a health buff, business consultant, and apparently a part-time writer. His latest venture is a Canadian mineral exploration company called IQ Mining Inc. (http://www.IQmining.com)

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