Last semester I was lucky enough to come across one of those teachers that knows what you want to learn and has the perfect approach to teaching it to you. Have you ever had that expirience? It is simply awesome. Anyways, lets get down to buisness.

As an assignment in this class I took, we were supposed to calculate how much money a person who smokes 1 pack of cigaretts a day would save if they quit smoking and invested their money into a fund with a 9% intrest rate. First thing we had to do was calculate how much a pack of smokes would cost on average, and where I live it is about 5$ USD. So, 5 dollars a day for a week is 35$ USD (5x7=35). There are 4 weeks in a month so 35$ x 4 = 140$ a month.

So, spending that 140 dollars a week on a pointless habit is costing you more then your life, but alot of money as well. If we invest 140$ a month for 10 years, with a 9% intrest, here is what you could expect to make:

(Assuming that the money is not taxed)

Total Saved after year 1: $1,748
Total deposits: $1,680
Total interest earned: $68
Total Saved: $1,748

Total Saved after year 2: $3,654
Total deposits: $3,360
Total interest earned: $294 USD

Total Saved after year 5: $10,463
Total deposits: $8,400
Total interest earned: $2,063 USD

Total Saved after year 10: $26,561
Total deposits: $16,800
Total interest earned: $9,761 USD


As you can see, saving that small amount of money monthly will give you a very nice fund after 10 years that could go towards a childs college, a family vacation, a new car or anything else that you can think of. After 10 years, if you keep saving, the amount of money you are saving increases due to intrest, which means that in 40 years, this sum will be much larger ($590,693!).

I am not a financial expert but this information is all correct. A tool that I used in the making of this was MSN Savings Calculator.

If you found this interesting, thats great. If not, well, thanks for reading!

I did a lot of calculations myself on this subject and all I can say that people who smoke a lot with time starts to buy cheaper cigarettes which costs not 5 USD $ but for example 1,2 USD $ Anyway, I also were counting on average, how much a guy/family could save money on petrol by going by bus, trolleybus, trolley-car, train and metro rather than with a car and make traffic jams and pollute the environment, the numbers were quite more significant than with cigarettes, I don't remember now, due to all this "fun" stuff was in school. Actually, people can save a lot of money almost everywhere, a lot of whom waste them there and there without any reason, just for luxury, even though they are not as rich to do that. Even poor students who get a small stipend wastes it on beer, clubs, pool and bowling and buys chips and other useless food from places like MC Donald's.. I don't see anything special about it, imagine if everyone would be saving their money and only would buy what they really need - boring.

Smoking is a bad habit, almost every smoker wants to quit smoking, but they don't really want to do as much as they desire.. if you really, I mean really want to stop smoking, you will and even though you will stop smoking, I don't think that you will see the money you saved by not buying any cigarettes.. This is all just theoretically, what if.. what if I wouldn't eat as much as I do now and wouldn't be spending so much money on food? after 5 years I could buy a new car! I think, you would spend the money somewhere else, because 1-100$ isn't much money, saving those kind of money - you need to really want something if you can economize such money, it is much easier to do so when you get much bigger sums of money.

I hate Smoking and Smokers. Because Smokers Hurt Themselves ans well those around them.

One of friends Father was a Chain smoker right from his teenage, now he got Lung Cancer and couldn't breath on his own without the support of breathing equipment, now he cannot move around, just laying in the bed. He could have avoided it, but things have changed now. He had to resign his job and lost all his freedom and now crumpled within four walls.

So all smokers just think before you smoke.

Well Quatrux, I agree that quitting smoking does not mean that the cash will get saved, and It usually doesn't. But if we were to look at this from a financial point of view, saving the extra money would be the best thing to do if you stopped smoking without spending any money on lets say nicotine patches or smokeless tabacco. I am still living at home with my parents and from my own personal expirience, that 140$ a month, ~210$ a month from my mom and dad both smoking sets us back just enough to where if the gas bill hikes up one cold month, we are digging into the credit cards and or bank accounts that are already growing cobwebs. The real purpose behind my post was to shed some light on what you could do with money saved from bad habits, and useless purchases. If you take a look at any MSN money article, almost 9/10 times you will see refrences to Wants and Needs, and the difference between them.

When you sat 1-100$ a month is not that much money, I disagree because in 1 year, you would have $12-1,200 that you could invest in stocks or something which would bring in even more money. One lesson that I did not get to mention that I learned last semester was that one way to get rich, if you choose to do so, is have your money work for you. Enough money in a fund that draws intrest will generate even more money and at one point in time, you can live off of intrest alone.

There are so many more things that I want to mention but I lack the solid information to do so

livingston, I hate smokers too, but I love my parents. Sadly, most smokers do not have the willpower to stop with no strings attached and end up wasting away their lives and their kids lives if they are irresponsible with their already deadly habit. (Smoking in the house is a BAD THING! :S) I am sorry for your friends father though, regardless to the fact that it was his fault that he got sick. As said by Quatrux in the last post, most smokers want to quit but they simply cannot do it.

I am glad that this topic has gone further then just boring money talk! Please keep the discussion comin!

Mmmm a smoking discussion. Personally, I don't smoke. I never have, and I don't really plan on starting in the near future. I just really don't like the smell that accompanies all smokers or the smell I seem to acquire when I'm in a smoking area. Like...the bowling alley for example. Geez, I sure do like to bowl, but the only bowling alley we have in town allows smoking, so I don't like to go there too often. It just...frustrates me to think that if I go, I'll have gathered up the smell of smoke all over my clothes and in my hair and then I'll have to drive home and get it all over my car.

Of course smoking has far more awful consequences than the way you smell though. As you have discussed there is the increased risk of cancer, as well as the danger of second hand smoke for those who are nearby. I'm sure it must be very difficult for people who smoke to actually stop smoking. I mean, anything is more difficult without help than it would be with. It usually seems too that smokers tend to hang out with friends or be in relationships with people who also smoke, and the same goes for non-smokers. So, for a smoker, I can only imagine that being surrounded most of the time by friends or family who smoke, it would be increasingly difficult to kick the habit. That's why I think (as with any addiction), that smokers might have a better chance of actually quitting if they seek some sort of support group or at least have a couple of friends who have also decided to drop the habit.

Smoking just seems like such an odd thing to pick up. When I see people smoking, they're usually by themselves, on their work break or something. It seems like such an incredibly lonely habit, especially since it's somthing that isn't accepted in certain places like inside stores and such. Not only does it seem lonely, but it seems to be an inconvenient habit to have too. I guess most habits are though. I just know that I prefer not to have my lungs coated in tar, so I probably won't be smoking any time soon. I don't think I'll ever understand why people make the decision to start smoking. And like you said, people could save some cash if they quit buying all those cigarettes! Well, the sad thing is though, because we're consumers, that money will likely be spent on something else anyways.

But anyways! I encourage those who want to quit smoking. I hope that they consider reaching out to friends and family for support in quitting smoking, and that they really stick with it if it's something they really want to achieve. It could save your life! It could benefit those that you live with, like your spouse or children.

Well, whether or not you save thousands by not smoking I don't know, but I do know that you save plenty of money. Therefore, it's definitely better to not start smoking while you're at it, or quit while you can.

Personally, I don't really enjoy being in the presence of smokers--I can't stand the smell of smoke. It really irks me to see a smoker in my vicinity. Nonetheless, I try to remind myself to be a proponent of free will and let people decide if they want to smoke. It's their choice to ruin their lungs after all, and I don't have a right to say something about it. (I do, on the other hand, have a right to run away. XD)

Sometimes I wonder why with all the anti-smoking and anti-drug education we have there are still so many smokers. And I'm not talking about the adults who can't quit, but the young people who start despite the lessons they've learned about the consequences. Surely most people would be readily able to recognize that smelling bad and later dying of lung cancer is not anywhere near the notion of "cool"? And surely people wouldn't want to sacrifice their own health and hygiene for the sake of "coolness"? I really can't believe those who start smoking despite the fact that they're informed.

On the other hand, for the people who started but were only vaguely or not at all informed, then I guess I can't say much. I understand that quitting is highly difficult, and obviously those smoking companies adding in addictive chemicals are not making the job any easier. Still, if one truly wishes to quit and will not stop no matter what, they should be capable of quitting. Sometimes I wonder if there's some sort of gene that makes some people more determined than others not to give up.

I am still in highschool and it irks me that so many people do smoke. My school has taught the students very well about the consequences that smoking has and what happens to your body but very few take it seriously. I used to mess around with cigaretts when I was 13 and there was nothing like kiding behind the fence near our neighborhood basketball court and lighting up a smoke. There was some sort of thrill from doing it, and maybe that is why so many kids do it. I haven't touched a cigarette for over two years now and its amazing to think that I was like some of those kids who get on the bus and stink of smoke and don't know it. That is also another thing that may encourage smoking among everyone. When you do smoke, you do not notice the odor that you give off and usually think that it goes away with a simple stick of gun and shot of axe, but that doesn't help. My parent's smoke out in our garage and when I go out there while they are there, sometimes I come back in the house and my hair smells like smoke. That is how bad it is

I agree with you, I don't like the smell too, I don't like to breath it, I don't like how my hands smell after smoking a cigarette and especially in a pub or any place where you can get a pizza and beer, a lot of people smoke and sometimes because of that smoke, your eyes hurt.. but in my country, it is banned now, I mean you can't smoke now in a pub, bar, bowling alley and etc. Many of those places aren't ready to have a special place for smokers, so they just go outside and smoke, I am really happy with that, but to think about it: it is winter now and it is much more dangerous to smoke in a cold weather than in summer, your lungs are suffering much more when it is -10 by Celsius and you're without your coat or jacket, due to it is in the bar.. it is much easier to get a cold like this or even a disease like bronchitis.. So if they banned to smoke in a pub, there has to be a law to let the smokers smoke somewhere else in good conditions, due to this is not "right" for people who are addicted to smoking, even though they smoke, they also are people..

Also, in my opinion, if a guy didn't start to smoke since he got 15,16 years.. I encourage he wouldn't start if he got 25 years, due to his body isn't used to the smoke and all the awful consequences it gives, he is in much more danger to get a cancer or any of those heart diseases, due to when we are in our teens and start smoke (not to much) we get "somekind" of immunity and our body can fightback much easier, the same is with alcohol, if you start to drink beer or something else and stronger only in the year 28, you might even die or get somekind of a disease much faster, due to your body isn't used to this "poison". Personally, I was smoking for about 5 years, but know I do it very rarely, one or two cigarettes in a month, but only under the influence of beer

Moreover, it isn't as popular and "cool" to smoke these days as it used to before, at least in my country.. now much less students smoke and what is strange that female students started to smoke much more and they have a bigger risk to get those diseases and besides, they will need to give a birth to "new" people, that is why I don't really accept smoking women, and if they "stink" with cigarette smoke, that is a bit disgusting, but anyway, maybe it is just me.

In addition, I agree and I see it that this is real, people who smoke are usually having friends who smoke too and people who don't smoke, usually have friends like that too.. I never noticed that, until I thought of it one day.. even in my class, I was hanging out with my friends and people who also started to hang out with us with time started to smoke, due to as it was said, it is very hard to not smoke when your friends do it.. because it is easier to quit smoking or don't smoke at all when all your friends doesn't! Say, you're in a birthday party or in a new year party and you don't occasionally smoke, but there are people who smoke in that birthday party and when you get under the influence of alcohol a bit, people goes and goes to that darn balcony to smoke and talk about interesting things, so usually you also go there and try to smoke, but if you don't continue to smoke further, I don't think that is is a big problem.

I have to admit that gaining "somekind" of immunity to the dangers of smoking if you expiremented with them a little bit when you are young sounds a little bit far fetched, but I guess that its reasonable to believe. The human body is wonderous thing and can adapt to many enviornments very well. When a substance enters the body that it does not like, it will learn to like it! (Consider alchohol for an example) But there is no such thing as an immunity to cigarettes or smoking rather, and the small immunities that may have been developed from expiremental use are in no way reasons to smoke (I know your not saying that, but I had to mention it) I have heard that smoking also increases the chance of a person getting sick by reducing the effectiveness of their bodies immune system, so it's never a good idea to light up. You need to quit drinking beer!

Iv'e been smoking since not long before I turned 13 (I recently turned 21).

I have asthma , wow smoking and asthma = bad? oh really, well as soon as I stopped taking the puffers and using ventalators, I finally got taller lol and asthma hasn't been a problem for me since I started smoking.

No doubt it will catch up with me eventually.

Yah and so do cars and mobile phones, I don't have or want either. I chose my posion and you chose yours .