Kick Your Smoking Habit – Save Loads of Cash

I stopped smoking about a year ago. It took about four months and about three false starts, but I quit cold turkey. I had picked up the habit during college. It was the only way to grab a quick break during my days as a waitress, and once the habit was formed, it stuck.

There were plenty of reasons to quit. If you’re a smoker, you’ve heard them all. All of the health effects – coronary and pulmonary diseases, yellowing of the nails and teeth, cancer – weren’t enough to stop me.

It was the actual cost of cigarettes that converted me into a non-smoker.

It was just a normal day. I was driving to work, but I pulled over and went into a gas station to buy a pack of cigarettes. When I pushed a ten dollar bill across the counter, I was shocked to only get two dollars and some change back. I thought, “There must be some mistake. It’s not that expensive, is it?”

The next time I wanted a cigarette, I thought about the $7 I was going to burn, and just didn’t stop.

I know it’s not that easy for everyone, but I was looking for a reason to quit, and for some reason saving money was what broke my addiction.

Cigarette prices are different in each state, but the average pack is $5.95, which means someone with a pack-a-day habit can save $2,000 per year.

Calculate how much you would save if you stopped buying cigarettes.

The savings don’t stop with the cost of the product. Former smokers who hold independent health insurance policies could see a drop in premium costs of up to 30 percent after being smoke-free for sixth months. Some employers are making it more expensive for employees to smoke by installing health insurance penalties.

Uh-oh! Why would my employer want to penalize me for smoking?

Smokers are actually a greater liability to companies than non-smokers as smokers make more health insurance claims and rack up more costs. This is also true for disability and worker’s compensation payments. Studies also show that smokers devote company time to upholding their routines and habits, which means that there is an invisible cost associated with lost productivity.

If you’re interested in investing in life insurance, you have a big reason to quit smoking. Using the money you would be spending on cigarettes, you can probably afford a better plan than before; and once you’ve been a non-smoker for a year, your premiums can drop by up to 70 percent.

It’s jaw-dropping, I know.

The drawback, if it can even be considered as such, is that you will have to undergo physical tests to prove to the insurance company that you’re no longer smoking. If you think you can stop smoking for a year to lower your costs and start back up again, it’s best to re-think that strategy. If you were to die, and you had been smoking, any health reports that described you as a smoker could cause the claim to be denied.

The final cost-saving benefit of quitting smoking may seem small, but it’s actually a pretty great benefit. You might be eligible for up to a 5 percent discount on your home insurance policy, and for good reason. In 2010, the National Fire Protection Agency reported that 90,800 smoking-material related fires caused 610 deaths and 1,750 civilian injuries. In addition to the human costs were $663 million in direct property damages.

About The Author

Carol Wilson is a freelance insurance business writer who is in the midst of creating her very own business insurance guide for consumers. In the meantime, she likes to share her knowledge of business insurance and other business related topics such as marketing to small business owners, entrepreneurs, and other corporate moguls.