Money Advice Guide

Smoking, medically speaking, is one of the most devastating diseases of the modern world. Dying from smoking alone exceeds the combined statistics of death reports on accidents, murders, suicides, cirrhosis and infectious diseases. This number in USA - and this is just to create an apt imagery in your mind - is more than all the (American) deaths of World War II put together.

Lung cancer is the most common disease associated with smoking and it might surprise you to know that just about one hundred years ago, this disease was so rare that when diagnosed it would have been diagnosed as a phenomenon. If you go by the statistics, even in 1930 lung cancer was not really heard of. How can you explain that a disease that was almost non-existent about half a decade ago, is now the biggest killer in the world? Isn’t this proof enough for you? The statistics and the hundreds of studies carried out throughout the world are unanimous in their verdict when they say that more than 85 percent of the deaths caused by cancer could have been prevented by not smoking.

Socially, smokers are slowly being ostracized by their non-smoking counterparts in all parts of the world. This effect is due to the increasing awareness of the horrible effects smoking has on the smoker himself/herself as well as the non-smoker. It is well known today that passive smokers face as high a risk as a normal smoker when it comes to inhaling of cigarette smoke. This social movement is growing in prominence both in rural and urban areas, as well as advanced and under-developed countries. Smoking is no more a hap thing for a man or woman. People are slowly internalizing the dangers associated with smoking and encourage their friends and colleagues to quit.

The above are two of the massive motivation factors, which a smoker usually finds to help him/her quit smoking. There is another one great aspect however, which needs attention, i.e. the economic factor. A standard two pack per day smoker couple can actually fund their auto finance with the cost of their cigarettes. Imagine the waste and drain of money that they are incurring, while at the same time endangering their lives. In other words, they are slowly buying death.

Not only from the economical point of view, we can also include the million of accidents (many times fatal) started by cigarettes in homes, office and even cars. Cigarettes are one of the main arson causing factors in today’s world. Besides that, cigarettes routinely burn holes in your clothes, carpet, furniture, and upholstery - and in your pocket.

Looking from all the angles - would you really logically support your decision to continue smoking - look at it medically, socially and economically; it is in no way a viable habit to sustain. Rather, those who continue after knowing all the facts court death, poor health and a lot of grief to themselves and their dear ones.

Jared Mitchell publishes articles on behalf of the team at Quit Smoking Articles. Updated regularly our team of experts research and write articles related to current quit smoking issues. Visit us for the latest quit smoking articles and resources.

Use Nicotine Gum to help alleviate the withdrawal symptoms of quitting today.

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Tags: Economic Costs, Medical, Quit Smoking, smoking, SocialEconomic Costs, Medical, Quit Smoking, smoking, Social

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For most people, there is a direct correlation between how worried they are about retirement income, and how much they can actually do about it. This is because the more worried you are, the closer you probably are to retirement, and the less time you have to do anything - like save up. Effective ‘saving up’ requires time. Time so your money can grow. Save an extra $200 a month, three years before retirement (at age 62), and you’ll amass a grand total of $7,887 (averaging 6% growth). Not likely to have a big impact on your retirement lifestyle.

But what if you invested for retirement when you were NOT worried about it? What if you, say, quit smoking a pack a day at age 45 and took the money and invested that instead? (For the purposes of this illustration, let’s assume a pack costs $7.00 and you smoke a pack a day so you invest, for easy figure’s sake, $200 per month. Again, average compound rate of return is 6%.)

Instead of starting to save when you start worrying about retirement (at age 62), and amassing that grand total of $7,887 by age 65, you start saving when you’re NOT worried about retirement (at age 45 - by quitting smoking and saving that money) so you end up with, wait for it, — $91,129 !

What will $91,129 do for you at age 65? It would provide you with $456 in additional monthly income for the rest of your life (continuing to average 6% growth), and you won’t have to touch your capital. Or, perhaps, you could choose to retire earlier!

Don’t start to worry, at age 62, and save a paltry $7,887 by 65. Instead, start saving $200 more a month at age 45, when you’re not worried, and have $69,892 by age 62! Then you could retire completely at age 62, by using both the principle and interest as income from 62 to 65. $69,892 would provide you with $2,100 in income for three years! Thus, quit smoking and quit working 3 years earlier!

Of course, most of us ‘act’ when we have the ‘urge’ to act. (Note how the words ‘urge’ and ‘urgent’ have the same root.). You will tend to act on your retirement plan when it is most urgent. But long term goals are, by their very nature, NEVER URGENT! Now, perhaps THAT is something to worry about.

About The Author

Rick Hoogendoorn is a financial security advisor with Cheri Crause & Associates Inc. (He quit smoking ten years ago this month.) Cheri Crause is a certified financial planner in Victoria, BC.

www.chericrause.com

rick.hoogendoorn@shaw.ca

Tags: investing, personal finances, retirement, smokinginvesting, personal finances, retirement, smoking

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