If it doesn't bankrupt you, it might kill you -- smoking, that is. WalletHub conducted a survey on the personal cost of smoking and the results may make you choke.
WalletHub's Jill Gonzalez says like the gasoline tax, tobacco taxes vary from state to state.
"Number one, being the cheapest place to be a smoker is Kentucky; 51st including DC is New York; Texas ranks 26th."
Gonzalez says the actual cost of smokes was just the first consideration.
"Then we looked into financial opportunities; so not only saving that money you're spending on cigarettes but also what you could be doing with it: investing, how much that would add to up over a year or a lifetime."
Gonzalez says it's not just bad for *your* health and *your* wallet, it hurts the nation.
"The U.S. loses out on $300-billion in lost productivity, via illness, smoke breaks, lost time on the job from smoking alone, so it is costing businesses a little something as well."
Gonzalez says Texas ranks in the middle of the states for smoking costs -- which total about $28,000 per year for each smoker. The factors include the actual cost of cigarettes, the financial opportunities lost by smoking, health care costs and income loss.
Bottom line, it's stupid to smoke and the sooner you quit the healthier you'll be, physically and financially.