How much money will I save by quitting smoking?
It's No Smoking Day and there are huge financial benefits, as well as health, if you can give up for good.
Today is No Smoking Day, and with the cost of cigarettes continuing to rise we've got 37,000 reasons to try and quit the habit for good.
The NHS Smokefree website has a calculator which you can use to see how much smoking is costing you financially. It also has all sorts of advice and information, including free Quit Kits and smartphone apps to help you kick the habit.
With the average pack of 20 cigarettes costing around £8.47, a person with the average 12-a-day habit is spending around £1,854 on cigarettes over the course of a year. Over 20 years, and this is a very conservative estimate as the tax on cigarettes increases each year, that will be a saving of £37,080.
Putting that money in the top-paying tax-free cash Isa from Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks, which require just 40 days' notice to get your cash and pay 1.50%, would return £1,882 over the first year. Or it could be used to pay a chunk off a mortgage.
Or you could put it in TSB's Classic Plus current account, paying 5% interest and you'd get back £1,948.85 before tax, a profit of £118.54.
Another huge boost
And the money saved from not spending on cigarettes could be boosted after 12 months by a drop in life insurance premiums too.
For example, a 30-year-old man wanting £200,000 of cover on a 20-year decreasing term policy from insurer Beagle Street would save £33.60 a year if they were a non-smoker. That's £672 over the 20 years.
A 50-year-old man wanting £100,000 of decreasing term cover over 15 years would save £18.55 a month or £222.60 a year. Over the 15 years that would be a huge £3,339.
Once you've given up for 12 months, without using any nicotine replacement products such as electronic cigarettes, it's definitely time to review your life insurance policy.
The point is that with thousands of pounds a year extra in your pocket, there are all sorts of exciting options available. Hell, you can blow it all on a holiday if you want. But the only way to get that money is to give up smoking, and stick to it.
If you are giving up smoking today, we wish you the very best of luck.
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This is a classic lovemoney article that has been updated
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