Cash in on the smoking ban

As the UK's smokers mull the impending ban on lighting up in public, one incentive to stub out their last fag is the potential profits to be made from investing their ciggy money in the markets instead.

"With the typical packet of fags costing £5.40, a twenty-a-day smoker is blowing around £165 a month – and that's assuming the matches are gratis," mused F&C's Jason Hollands.

"Just storing the cash in a piggy bank would collect a tidy sum of £1,980 a year but had the money had been invested in a monthly savings scheme with Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust over the last 12 months, you'd now be sitting on a pot of £2,460. That's more than enough to buy plenty of patches and a subscription to a fancy health club."