Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to many harmful accidents and consequences. These negative results affect not only the individual but also the people in their life especially those closest to them. Extreme alcohol consumption has many adverse economic effects besides the money spent on purchasing alcohol. Like lowered wages because of the work missed from absenteeism, lost employment, increased medical expenses, legal costs of offenses committed under the influence, decreased eligibility of loans, and sometimes even increased interest rates. Apart from these traffic accidents, workplace-related problems, family and domestic issues, interpersonal violence, etc. All these issues might look like social issues, but they can also indirectly affect your financial stability.
Alcohol dealing, in general, costs you a lot. Getting addicted can be an even further matter. Too much alcohol consumption can have many adverse effects on a person’s life and may lead to serious financial issues. Following are some of the issues from alcohol abuse due to which people can fall into financial crises.
Impulsive Purchases
When People are under the influence, their inhibitions are lowered, and they are more likely to do impulsive shopping. Impulsive shopping can make people buy unwanted things. People under the influence are likely to spend more money on the bar or any place because they are not thinking straight. And with online shopping, the “beer goggles” effect makes everything extra attractive, due to which they buy whatever they like. If this behavior continues, it can harm your finances, which can ultimately increase your expenses more than you have planned.
Decrease in Working Potential
When people get addicted to alcohol, they are likely to give a low performance at their work too. This decrease in productivity at work can affect their credibility. Finances are more than just your earnings; it also includes your learning potential. Students who binge drink are likely to get lower grades that have a negative effect on their work-life in the future. Employees who drink too much are late to work or absent much more often, which can affect their income or cause them to lose their job altogether. Apart from that, extreme alcohol consumption can lead people out of their senses to focus on anything else. In such a situation, they cannot even support themselves, let alone anyone else.
Increased Medical Expenses
The habit of excessive drinking can also lead to serious health problems that need to be treated like cardiovascular illnesses, pneumonia, cirrhosis, pancreatitis, and different forms of cancer. People who have to get treatments for alcohol-related conditions are likely to have copays, lost wages, and transportation costs. With low income, your social security contribution and retirement accounts also lessen.
Insurance Expenses
Apart from these issues, many other minor consequences can increase your expenses more than usual. If you don’t know it yet, you are probably wondering “What will car insurance rates increase to after a DUI?” Then the answer is yes. If you are ever caught or are convicted of driving under the influence, then there are chances that car insurance rates can increase dramatically. Plus, after being convicted of a DUI, you also need to increase your budget for SR-22 insurance costs. You will likely have to carry an SR-22 after a DUI conviction to show proof of high-risk insurance coverage.
Increased Debt
Alcohol consumption can also lead to increased debt in numerous ways, including increased credit card bills from paying extra expenses than income and being unable to pay their credit card bills since their income is lowered from before. Another factor can be forgetting to make payments because of being under the influence and then paying penalties for late payments. Most families have a base income under which they have to manage their expenses; if this base is shaken and the gap between the earnings and expenses increases, this will lead to financial instability. People who are addicted to alcohol have poor financial management skills. As a result, being unable to effectively manage your finances can lead to severe sadness and stress. With this in mind, it can lead to a disastrous downward spiral if you’re not careful.
When Assessing all of the Above Factors
Excessive consumption of alcohol can affect all the areas of an individual’s life and the lives of the others surrounding them. Not only that, but there are also negative consequences of many other factors like accidents, poor work performance, lower-income or wages, increased expenses, legal fees, increased medical expenses, and many more. The cost of alcohol consumption in itself is too high, and bringing the cost of other factors that can push a person into financial crises is high too. Therefore, try to limit your consumption to get both the pleasure of life and not ruin your financial well-being.
