4 ways Australians waste colossal amounts of money

Money is hard to earn and all too easy to waste. The following are 4 wasteful things Australians are buying that do not typically result in a substantial return on the investment: 1.   Cigarettes News.com.au has reported that Australians collectively spend about $14?billion on cigarettes every year. On average, most Australian smokers are each spending more than $100 per week on cigarettes, totaling about $5,237 per year. The upfront cost of cigarettes, expensive as it is, is negligible as compared against the medical bills that result from a smoking habit. Smoking is linked to costly medical problems including lung cancer, emphysema, heart disease, pneumonia, renal failure, eye conditions and many others. So, if you smoke, consider ditching the durries in hopes of preserving both your wealth and your health. Surely you can think of better ways to invest $5,237 this year. 2.   Lottery tickets Some time ago, Walter Hickey at Business Insider Australia calculated the odds of winning the then-latest Powerball lottery at 1 in 175,223,516. He concluded the following: It doesn’t ever make financial sense to play Powerball for the cash-up front winnings. The expected value only ever gets to the break-even point when the jackpot reaches about $531,038,600 AU ($380 million US). Taxes will most likely negate any profitability you might receive from playing the lottery – so if you do decide to play, do your best to minimise them. In short, for most Australians who play the lottery, it typically turns out to be a colossal waste of money. 3.   Genetic testing… Read More