Stop smoking and save £4,474 a year

As Wednesday March 10^th marks the latest zany holiday – No Smoking Day – Britons are being urged to ditch the fags from a different angle.

Rather than harp on about the dangers of passive smoking or pore over grisly pictures of tarred lungs, debt experts have pointed to the damage smoking does to your pocket.

With the average cost of a packet of 20 cigarettes now standing at £6.13 – which could increase is if Chancellor Darling hikes up the duty in this year’s Budget – those with a 40-a-day habit will be puffing away £4,474 every year.

This, financial experts reckon, could be much better spent elsewhere.

According to financial news site Citywire, £4,474 could fund an extra £100,000 on your mortgage at an average interest charge of 4.25%. Alternatively, trading up to a nicer home and borrowing another £100,000 could be made possible simply by going cold turkey.

Additionally, Moneysupermarket.com states that repenting smokers could save as much as £6,000 on life assurance premiums over the twenty five year term of the contract.

Whilst some smokers still won’t be swayed by fatter wallets and greater savings, those nicotine-craving individuals who are also in debt may see things differently.

Smokers seeking help with their finances often find that creditors can be surprisingly unsympathetic when it comes to allowing expenditure on luxury items such as alcohol and tobacco, meaning that if people are serious about sorting out their financial woes, cigarettes are usually the first things to go.

Debt expert and director of Atlantic Financial Management, Kevin Still, said: “As a Debt Management Company we will be adjusting our allowances for new and existing clients when the new tax year starts. There is no doubt that creditors scrutinise higher levels of expenditure on non-essential items and alcohol & tobacco definitely fit in this category. Someone giving up smoking could definitely accelerate the rate they become debt free on a Debt Management Plan (DMP).”