We all know smoking harms health. What many of us might not have realized is just how much the habit harms your wallet.
A study by WalletHub shows the average cost of tobacco use amounts to $147,000 for a lifetime smoker. That includes the annual cost of buying a pack of day, health care costs and lost work income because of smoking-related illness.
The price is much higher when you consider what a smoker could have done with all that money. By smoking your money rather than investing it in the stock market, WalletHub notes, lost investment income for tobacco users range from about 2.2 to 4 million dollars, depending on which state.
In Florida, for example, the tally is about $2.6 million, the 19th highest in the nation.
Perhaps all that bad financial news might convince a would-be smoker to avoid cigarettes if they are unmoved by the health threat.
We all pay for smoking, of course, through higher health insurance premiums.
About a half million people a year die from smoking-related illnesses in the United States. The American Lung Association says this deadly habit is the leading cause of lung cancer.
Health damage from tobacco products plays havoc with the entire body and can lead to heart disease, stroke, lung disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD.
Some health problems are lesser known. On the reproductive front, smokers face a menacing trifecta of harms, with the habit negatively impacting an individual’s libido, sexual performance and fertility.
It’s even thought to trigger hair loss.
There is seemingly no end to the risk lighting up poses.
So, kick the habit. Don’t watch your earnings — or your health — go up in smoke.