I’m a smoker, I’m 30 years old. I’m more concerned with the health of my family members right now than I am my own, how ever silly that may be. If we can’t convince ourselves right now to consider quitting because of health reasons, what about thinking about the money we spend on these awful things.

I smoke a super discounted brand which costs me about $130 per month. If I were buying any leading regular brand I’d be spending 60% more than that! Per pack I spend $4 as opposed to $10 which is the price of many preferred brands.

Let’s see what we could do with that money instead:

If I put that monthly $130 into a non registered investment for 30 years by the time I was 60 years old that would be an extra $218,000!!! This is after tax capital! (Based on a return of 8% and 3% inflation and a low 21% tax bracket.)

If I had a higher tax bracket, say 32% and put this into an RRSP instead I could end up with a market value investment worth $248,000!!! (Based on same return rate and inflation.)

So, here’s what I’m thinking…

I could keep on smoking, which makes me feel crappy anyway and have that wasted money doing nothing for me other than ruin my health or I could quit; put that money away and have a sweet pile of money waiting for me when I retire to do whatever I want with. Hmmm…rocket science? Maybe we’ll actually make it to retirement if we quit!

Again, this is based on $4 packs of cigarettes, the numbers based on the $10 packs would be atrocious! This is only a financial aspect of quitting, the benefits of doing so are endless but that’s a whole different blog ;)

In terms of the financial rewards this is just a start. The more you build your assets the more options you have to benefit from other wealth building strategies. More blogs to come…

By the way, I really am considering quitting. I’d love to, I need to and showing myself and others some of the rewards only motivates me more! To all the other smokers out there, I hope this helps you too!