Investments Up in Smoke
I take no credit for this, I just thought it was very interesting and am very glad that I don’t smoke.
http://www.fool.com/News/mft/2004/mft04043021.htm?ref=btp
By Motley Fool Staff
April 30, 2004
The Surgeon General warns that smoking is hazardous to your health. According to the American Lung Association, smoking-related diseases take more than 430,700 American lives each year. That’s apparently not enough to get people to quit, though, not even Fools.
So we’ll add an addendum to the Surgeon General’s warning: Smoking is hazardous to your financial health. Smoking costs the United States approximately $100 billion per year in health-care costs and lost productivity. That’s $100 billion that could be put to much better use: schools, roads, job training, saving Social Security, a dependable voting system — even tax cuts.
But forget the good of humankind. Let’s think about you. How is smoking affecting your portfolio? Well, potentially in a pretty big way. And we’re not even talking about if you happen to own tobacco kings like Altria’s (NYSE: MO) Philip Morris or R.J. Reynolds (NYSE: RJR), which still face litigation concerns and problems with the European Union.
Think about the money you spend on cigarettes. Depending on where you live, you could easily be paying $4 per pack. Maybe you smoke a pack a day. That $28 a week translates into $1,456 per year. Instead of standing out in the cold for all those smoking breaks, you could have taken an annual trip for two to Cancun.
