Yahoo Finance Bad habit costing Aussies $8,000
In addition to the high price of cigarettes, Aussie smokers also pay a premium for life insurance.
Smoking cigarettes can increase your life insurance premiums by almost 80 per cent, new data has found.
Finder analysis found Aussie smokers paid an extra $31 per month for life insurance premiums compared to non-smokers, with the average cost sitting at $70.90 per month.
“If you’re a smoker, including vaping, you're classified as a high-risk applicant by all life insurers, and your premiums will typically be much more than a non-smoker,” Finder insurance expert Gary Hunter said.
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On average, smoking increased premiums by 78.42 per cent, but some insurers charged more than 90 per cent extra.
Around 10 per cent of Aussie adults are daily smokers, and Finder said they could stand to save thousands if they gave cigarettes the flick.
“If you add the average monthly cost of a half-a-pack-a-day habit - at $634 per month - and an additional $31 per month in life insurance premiums, this works out to just almost $8,000 per year you could be saving if you gave up cigarettes,” Hunter said.
“Ask your provider if they'll be able to change your terms and offer you a saving. You might have to take a medical exam, which may include a blood test, before you can change your terms.”
Insurers would typically only classify you as a non-smoker if you had given up the habit for 12 months, Finder said.
Cost the main reason to quit
Cost is now the biggest reason Aussie smokers try to quit. Tobacco taxes rose by 25 per cent in 2010 and 12.5 per cent annually between 2013 and 2020, bringing the cost of a pack of cigarettes to around $40.
Aussies have also been feeling the pinch from rising inflation, which hit 7.8 per cent for the year to December 2022.
The cost of tobacco also increased, rising 4.7 per cent annually for the year ending December 2022.
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