Smoking is a deadly habit. And it's expensive too. Very expensive. Use this calculator to find out how much you could save by breaking this deadly habit. You can also see how much you could earn by investing your savings.
First enter your departure date. Track this with the average number of cigarettes you smoke per day, the cost per pack you pay, the age at which you started smoking and the age at which you quit. Then specify how long you want your savings to be calculated for and an interest rate that may be applied to your savings.
Click UPDATE STATISTICS and you'll see how many cigarettes you don't smoke, how much money you've saved and the future value of your savings. If you really want to get to the point, click PAST SMOKING EXPENSES and you'll see how much you've spent on cigarettes since you started smoking.
Please note that due to daylight saving time and different time zones, savings end calculations for periods less than one day may vary slightly, however, the money savings become more accurate over time and are accurately recorded each day based on the future.
5 things you might not know about the health and financial impact of quitting smoking
In accordance withAmerican Cancer Society, 42 million Americans currently smoke cigarettes. Of these, 7 in 10 want to quit smoking and 40% will try to quit this year. As Mark Twain said, "Quitting smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times.” No one is saying curbing cravings and fighting the urge for another hit is easy. These financial and medical benefits are designed to give you the incentive you need to quit smoking once and for all.
More money in your pocket
Smoking cigarettes is a huge financial drain that shows up every time you spend money to buy a new pack of cigarettes. The average cost of a 20-pack of cigarettes in the United States is $6.36. This means that an average smoker, giving up one pack a day, would save:
- $44.52 in just one week, enough for dinner for two at an average restaurant
- $190.80 a month, enough for a round-trip flight to Europe
- $2,321.40 per year, enough cash to pay for a new Apple MacBook or a round-trip flight to Europe
- $23,214.00 in a decade, enough cash to pay for a new Kia Soul or Chevrolet Sonic
- $116,070.00 over 50 who could buy a home in Georgia or South Carolina right away
Since the average American smoker smokes 19.1 cigarettes per day, the savings described above are comparable to those of the majority of smokers in the United States. However insideSome states pay much more.
In New Hampshire, for example, smokers smoke an average of 26.8 cigarettes, or nearly a pack and a half, per day.
Think how much that small increase in smoking adds to the bill over time.
- $59.66 in just one week
- $255.67 in one month
- $3,110.68 in one year
- $31,106.76 in a decade
- $155,533.80 over 50 years
The figures above reflect the direct costs of smoking and do not take into account any health effects or lost return on investment. The cumulative effect of just a small habit change is impressive. And remember, these are just the savings for people spending the average amount on a pack of cigarettes. If you live in some areas of the United States, individual state taxes can further increase the price of a pack of cigarettes. You pay an average of $8.32 for a package in Washington, $9.30 in Connecticut and $14.50 in New York.
Of course, everyone's smoking habits and the price they pay for it are different. See how much you can save and calculate how much smoking you can put in your pocket.
No online calculator can predict how much your decision to continue smoking could cost your salary. Approximately $50 billion in wages are lost in the United States each year due to tobacco-related morbidity and mortality. Think of all the times you called in sick because you had a cold or woke up out of breath. Smoking attacks the body's natural immune system. Even if you don't realize it, many of your illnesses are probably caused by smoking.
Deciding to quit smoking may even help you become more employable. A growing number of employers, particularly in the healthcare sector, are not hiring candidates whose urine tests show nicotine use, whether from cigarettes, smokeless tobacco or nicotine patches. The Baylor Health Care System in Texas, Fotsch of the Idaho Central District Health Department, the Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania, and the Hollywood Casino in Toledo, Ohio have all been open about their no-smoking policies, but many other employers likely have similar policies . , undisclosed policies.
These companies insist their decision has something to do with their commitment to health and wellness, but it may also have something to do with maximizing profit margins. Finally, studies show that a smoking employee costs a company $6,000 more than a non-smoking employee, which means even lower early death benefits.
Much of this cost comes from additional medical bills that arise because many companies pay for their employees' healthcare services. However, there is also a significant loss of productivity when employees smoke a cigarette. While smokers can argue that non-smokers also drink coffee and bathroom breaks, research suggests that smokers spend about an hour away from their desks in addition to their regular lunch break, which is significantly more than any non-smokers.
Save serious medical bills
If you can't make it to work because of smoking-related illnesses, you're probably piling up some serious medical bills. It is sobering to realize that smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths. About half of all regular smokers die from a smoking-related disease. It is startling to note that the majority of these deaths occur between the ages of 35 and 59, many years ahead of the current average life expectancy in the US of 78.84 years. Approximately 420,000 American smokers succumb to smoking-related diseases each year, but few of these deaths are sudden.
A variety of health problems often drain smokers' bank accounts before they go away. Smokers in the United States spend $50 billion annually on medical services related to their habit. Imagine how much bigger your bank balance would be if you weren't one of them.
a recentStudie des Institute for Health Policy Studies, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, showed that reducing the risk of acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) and stroke that would accompany quitting smoking would result in a person's projected medical costs increasing $47 would drop in the first year of life to quit (and to $853 over the next seven years).
This study shows that quitting smoking has an almost immediate effect on the body and helps reduce the risk of serious medical problems very quickly. In fact, the excess risk of having a heart attack or stroke is reduced by about 50% within two years of quitting. Researchers found that while preventing smoking is important, reducing smoking among adults can have greater immediate benefits for society. Heart attacks and strokes are expensive to treat, so preventing these conditions by quitting smoking can have significant short-term financial benefits for individuals, as well as public and private health plans.
Heart attacks and strokes are just two of the health complications that can increase smokers' medical bills. Quitting the habit reduces your risk of developing a number of other chronic illnesses and diseases, including:
- emphysema
- AVK
- Cancers of the lung, mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, cervix, kidney and pancreas
- Bronchitis
- lung infection
Developing any of these diseases can result in significant hospitalization and medical bills if you are lucky enough to be discharged. Otherwise, your loved ones will have to bear the brunt of these significant medical expenses.
Save on your loved ones' medical bills
Not only do you reduce the size of your own medical bills, but you also reduce the healthcare costs of the people you live with when you commit to quitting. Partners and especially children are vulnerable to the effects of cigarette smoke, even if you don't smoke at home or around family members.
European researchers found that the residue left on smokers' skin, clothing and furniture, known as third-party smoke, still has a dramatic impact on children's breathing. Scientists at Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands found that infants and 13-year-olds living in households with parents who smoke outdoors were twice as likely to develop respiratory infections as those living in non-smoking households. These babies and children were almost twice as likely to have wheezed recently. Wheezing can be a symptom of several illnesses, including colds, allergies, bronchiolitis, pneumonia, and asthma.
This European study suggested that while parents were aware of the dangers of secondhand smoke, they did not understand the very serious effects of secondhand smoke. It also highlights the effects of smoking on loved ones, even when a person does not smoke around loved ones.
Advance paymentResearch published by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratoryin March 2014 he found that secondhand smoke can be even more dangerous than passive smoking. Scientists have discovered that tobacco residues can react with indoor pollutants like ozone and nitrous acid to form dangerous new compounds. One of these compounds, known as a harmful residue, can be left on virtually any surface, including children's toys and other items that children may put in their mouths. This substance has been shown to bind to human DNA and cause uncontrollable cell growth and the development of cancerous tumors.
save your organs
A reduced risk of heart attack and stroke aren't the only health benefits enjoyed by smokers. The decision to quit smoking also gives the body's organs a break from the stress of smoking. It's important to remember that smoking damages almost every organ and system in the body, including many that don't come in direct contact with cigarette smoke. However, many body organs take a relatively short time to recover from the effects of smoking. For example, you only need:
- 20 minutes for the body to heal. Your heart rate slows and your blood pressure goes down, reducing the workload on your heart and blood vessels.
- 12 hours to allow blood carbon monoxide levels to drop to normal levels, allowing oxygen to reach the heart and muscles more easily
- A day when almost all nicotine leaves the bloodstream
- One day to lower your risk of heart attack or stroke
- Three days to allow the bronchi, which carry air from the nose to the lungs, to relax and allow air to flow in and out of the lungs more easily.
- Five days for most nicotine by-products to leave the body. This restores the sense of taste and smell.
- A week to allow the cilia, which are the lungs' natural cleaning system, to recover and effectively remove mucus, tar and dust from the lungs. This reduces the risk of developing infections.
- Two months to allow the immune system to recover so your body can fight any infection that arises.
- Six months so the lungs produce less mucus, which makes breathing easier.
- A year for the lungs to be considered much healthier and more efficient
- Five years so that a woman's risk of developing cervical cancer is identical to that of a never-smoker
- Ten years until the risk of lung cancer is lower than that of a current smoker. This risk decreases with every year you stay away from cigarettes.
- 15 years until the risk of heart attack and stroke is about the same as that of a person who has never smoked.
As you can see, you're starting to save your body's organs within minutes of making your decision to stop, regardless of your age, so it's never too late to see the benefits.
Add years to your life
Without the health complications to worry about, your decision to quit smoking will add years to your life as well. Studies show that smokers die, on average, ten years earlier than non-smokers, so making the decision to quit can give you many precious years back. And since quitting will save you money, you'll have plenty of cash to enjoy that extra time on Earth!
Remember this is just the average. The earlier you go, the more extra years you can accumulate. If you stop smoking before the age of 35, you will even avoid premature death, according to a British study. On the other hand, the decision to continue smoking costs many people valuable decades.
Think about what you might be doing in another ten years or so. You can meet their grandchildren and even their great-grandchildren. You'll be there to celebrate birthdays and holidays as your family grows. Perhaps this benefit is the greatest win of all.
Quitting smoking is challenging and often requires multiple attempts, but these financial and medical benefits ex-smokers enjoy can give you the extra motivation you need to quit for good.