Keep smoking -- you'll need less money for retirement
Posted
Feb 20 2008, 05:30 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
We'd never thought there was an upside to smoking until we read Ryan's post called "When smoking is good for you" at Millionaire Money Habits. After all, it's linked to serious illness and shortens your life span.
"The health implications of this habit are great news for smokers who have a limited retirement fund or have plans to spend their retirement (savings) frivolously," he writes. In other words, who needs a lot of retirement money if the dirt nap comes early. (Just make sure you have good health insurance.)
You do need a lot of money for smoking. With a pack-a-day habit, you're spending $1,825 a year -- and in some places even more -- or $76,000 between ages 18 and 59 1/2, not including inflation and higher taxes (and not to mention the additional costs of smoking noted in an MSN Money article). On the other hand, Ryan says, if you invest that money, you'll have about $1.2 million by the time you retire.
Ryan's purpose isn't to browbeat smokers, but to point out that small expenses -- and small investments -- add up. He writes, "The only downside to quitting smoking is that our former smoker might need more money for retirement to get through their increased life expectancy."
