Smokers Can Save Thousands by Switching to Vaping
A pack-a-day smoker in the US will spend approximately $2100 per year on cigarettes. Smoking, however, is significantly more expensive than the cost of cigarettes. The US healthcare system spends nearly $170 billion on smoking-related medical costs every year. People who use tobacco products have a much higher risk of developing cancer and respiratory diseases, and are forced to pay much higher insurance premiums, while also taking on more medical costs.In the past, the only remedy for smokers was to quit. Unfortunately, quitting is extremely difficult, and many people simply don’t succeed. However, the development and popularization of vaping has delivered an important alternative.
By switching to vaping, smokers can enjoy a large portion of the cost-savings of quitting, even if they don’t succeed in quitting nicotine.
For many smokers, this simple change could make the difference between barely getting by, and enjoying a comfortable retirement.
Direct Savings
Vaping liquids and devices aren’t free, of course, but they’re much more cost effective than cigarettes.
Unlike cigarettes, vaping devices aren’t single-use, and e-liquids are compact and low-cost.
While there are a wide range of price points depending on different vaping devices and methods, vaping costs, on average, about half as much as smoking.
That means that a typical pack-a-day smoker will save approximately $1000 dollars per year directly by switching to vaping.
These savings, however, are only the smallest portion of the long-term savings that vapers can look forward to.
Healthcare costs
Smokers face a greatly increased risk of lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, and emphysema.
Even for insured patients, treatment costs for any of these can be debilitating, ranging from a few hundred, to over a thousand dollars per month.
The substances that cause these illnesses in cigarette smoke aren’t the addictive nicotine, but rather tar, and the wide range of carcinogenic compounds contained in tobacco smoke.
Unlike tobacco, vaping liquids contain only what manufacturers put into it.
As a result, they’re able to eliminate a very large portion of those chemicals, while greatly reducing others.
As a result, studies on the health effects of vaping have resulted in findings that suggest between zero to ten percent the health risks of traditional smoking.
At worst, switching to vaping reduces a smoker’s chances of developing a smoking-related illness by 90 percent as much as quitting entirely.
Insurance savings
Life insurance premiums for smokers are, on average, $1000 higher per year than those of non smokers.
Similarly, health insurers charge much higher premiums for smokers than non-smokers, as a result of their greatly increased risk of developing cancer.
While many insurance companies don’t differentiate between vaping and regular smoking yet, the FDA and individual insurance companies have indicated that they’re considering doing so in the future.
In the UK, doctors and government officials are already promoting vaping as a cessation aid for smokers.
As time passes, vaping liquids are improved and optimized, and health data continues to be collected, it’s likely that the US and other countries will follow suit.
Switching to vaping doesn’t just save a smoker $1000 per year on cigarettes.
When healthcare and insurance costs are considered, vapers stand to save tens of thousands, ranging up to a hundred thousand dollars over the course of a few decades.
Placed into a 401k, those savings can make all the difference between living on social security while suffering various smoking related illnesses, and enjoying a healthy and active retirement.
Ashley Wilson is a vaper and former smoker who tracks her savings by putting the difference in her retirement fund. Today, she writes about her journey and experiences for Smoking Things, an online vape shop.
Category: Family Finances
