Everyone knows that carrying a few too many pounds can be bad for your health, with more than 112,000 Americans dying each year from obesity-related problems.

However, not so many people stop to think about the effect that their weight has on their wealth, but when all factors are taken into account, the overall impact is considerable.

Setting aside the higher grocery bill that anyone eating calorific or excessive amounts of food must fork out for, there are a number of other additional expenses that those with a more streamlined physique do not have to face.

Individuals caught in a yo-yo cycle of dieting often attempt a number of different methods to trim down and pay out for diet pills as well as alternative methods such as patches, hypnotherapy or in extreme cases, even surgery.

Needless to say, these costs can quickly eat into money that has been set aside for a rainy day.

Individuals with a particularly large frame may find they also are unable to squeeze into a single airline or cinema seat and have to purchase two tickets in order to fit.

Medical insurance also comes at a much greater cost for those who are obese, with a sliding scale of charges that increase as the BMI goes up.

Some insurers will refuse to provide any coverage for individuals who are morbidly obese, who rather ironically, are the very people that need the insurance the most as the probability of falling ill is much greater.

Another strategy some health care providers adopt is to exclude pre-existing conditions, meaning that anyone whose weight was at the wrong end of the scales when joining up could find themselves having to pay for their own bills if weight played a factor in the illness.

If you are overweight, it is therefore more important than ever to keep a reasonably sized financial buffer in the bank and to make the most of your money it is recommended that you look around the market to see where you could find the best rates.

Comparison websites can help take the pain out of researching; checking out savings at moneysupermarket would be a good place to start.

Even more worrying for those with a larger physique are the results of recent academic studies in to the impact that being overweight has on earning power.

Research conducted by both Cornell University and Ohio University demonstrated that wealth and weight were irrevocably connected, with heavier individuals lighter in the bank than their more slimline colleagues.

Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics used in the Ohio publication showed that for every increase of 1 point in the BMI ratio, the net worth of the person dropped by $1000.

In the other piece of research carried out by John H. Cawley at Cornell, salary was found to go down as weight went up. Women who were 64 pounds heavier than the average had a wage that was 9% lower – a significant drop.

Whilst no-one can irrevocably prove that the drop in value is due to weight, other studies have reproduced the same results, leaving only one conclusion; that being obese is as bad for your wealth as it is for your health.

This is a guest post from Louise Tillotson:

In the UK, each adult is allowed to save a maximum of £10,200 per year in an Individual Savings Account, or ISA. An ISA works in a similar fashion to a regular savings account, with a couple of exceptions.

The first is that you can only deposit a maximum of £10,200 into the account during one tax year, regardless of how much you later withdraw. For example, if you’ve already deposited £10,200 into your ISA by November, then decide to withdraw £2000 in December, you cannot then replace the £2000 until the start of the following tax year in April.

Another difference between an ISA and other types of savings account is that the interest you earn from money in an ISA is safe from the tax man. Essentially, it’s a form of tax-free income. This can make a big difference because, if you have an ISA paying a rate of 6% interest, you would need to find a regular savings account paying an unlikely rate of 7.5% in order to get the same returns.

There are two forms of ISA, the cash ISA and the stocks & shares ISA. The deposit limit of £10,200 applies to them both as a whole, meaning if you deposit £7000 in a shares ISA you can only place up to £3,200 in a cash ISA. Also, no more than £5,100 can be placed in a cash ISA, so the remaining £5,100 of your allowance must go in a shares ISA if you wish to invest further.

Although there is a limit on the amount you can deposit into an ISA in one tax year, this doesn’t include transferred funds from old ISAs. For example, the previous year’s ISA limit was £7200. If you had this in an account paying 4% interest you would end up with £7,493 at the end of 12 months. This amount could then be transferred into a higher-rate ISA and continue to accumulate interest along with the new year’s allowance. You can transfer funds from a cash ISA into a shares ISA, but not the other way around.

Transferring ISAs is easier than people think. The important thing to remember is you shouldn’t draw the money out yourself. Instead, go to your new provider and they will process a transfer for you, which includes informing your old provider of your intentions. The latter may charge you a fee for transferring, so before you do, make sure the new rate is worth it. Banks sometimes drop the interest rate on their existing accounts after the first year, so shop around and compare ISA rates from different providers to find the best AER (Annual Equivalent Rate). A savings calculator will come in useful here, as you can use it to see how much you could earn with a given interest rate.

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Louise has worked in the financial sector for many years. She currently works as a writer for Moneysupermarket, and writes financial articles for a number of other sites as well.