What you said after this was all true, but the engagement ring doesn’t have a very long history (in the West at least), especially outside of the rich. My understanding is that a lot of the marketing on diamonds began when the Great Depression sent diamond prices down. I’m not sure how popular diamond engagement rings were before this.
I get what he means - the more appropriate comparison might be a Porsche Boxster. Chumps buy used ones on the cheap for the status because they’re a Porsche.
…although in fairness, boxsters are also technically very good cars…just kind of a fake Porsche. Like how fake diamonds can be good quality, they’re just fake.
This gets back to the whole real vs. fake discussion which I think has been discussed as it relates to other assets.
I think it’s different here though. The wife will know her’s is a fake (unless you just outright lie, which I suppose is an option). She’ll never know her friends are fake, as they won’t say. That will weigh on her, whether she says it or not. “Why are we less well off than my friends,” or, “why does he spend so much on himself when my friend’s guys spend more on them.”
Spending on such items, and other things, gives you alot more freedom to spend on your own things without grief down the road. If the wife feels well taken care (and it’s always relative to her social circle), then she won’t care as much if you want to splurge on a car or a golf membership or whatever. This applies whether she’s a trophy or a professional herself, I think. It’s just an obligation that comes with the gig.
CZs and the like are worthless, but synthetics are a different story as they are a true diamond and are 100% flawless. A CZ is about $200 for a caret, a synthetic is probably 5k, and a natural diamond is 10k (ballpark). I got a natural for the engagement ring, but I don’t see why I would ever get another one again.
So what do women oggle when they look at rings on their friends’ finger? Is it the size? Do they estimate the cost? What is the ‘omg’ tipping point for a ring?
I once met a LA HCB who said she’d say no to anything less than 3 carets. For fks sake, $30k!
Aren’t the synthetics just real natural diamonds with impurities lazered out and filled with some kind of plastic? I heard of a company doing this when I was in the market, they could upgrade a crappy rock to a solid rock.
Shop around though. A high quality caret shouldn’t run you $10k. If you have an elaborate setting then obviously that adds to price and you could hit that mark easily, but there are great quality ethical diamonds around for less than that. Substantially so.
Size/sparkle. A good setting can overcome some “deficiencies” in the rock itself. They definitely estimate cost. And the OMG point is relative to the circle she’s in (or she/you want her to be in).
The Boxster is a more purposeful sports car than the 911 (to the extent that a car that is available with leather air conditioning vents can be considered a purposeful sports car, anyway). The 911 has 2 main advantages over the Boxster or Cayman: 1) It has more powerful engines, and 2) It has little back seats. The engine differences are mostly due to model positioning. Today’s Cayman or Boxster would be faster than the 911 if they had similar engines. The 911’s back seats are nice to have, but they are mostly useless for anyone except small children.
It is misguided to regard the Boxster as a “fake” Porsche. It is certainly not a 911, but the two cars have different missions. The 911 is designed to go 150 mph on the autobahn. The Boxster is a mid-engine car with much better balance; it is much more true to the spirit of Porsche from the early days. It is not cheap either - you can get a BMW 5 Series for the same cost. It takes about 5 seconds in a Boxster, especially the latest model, to realize that it is built to a higher quality specification than cars from most other manufacturers.
I wonder when we will be able to 3D print a nice diamond…
For car talk, I’d say if you can can’t afford a 911, then you shouldn’t buy a boxster. Porsche is FU money. You should have a juiced up model. You don’t want to be the zip who can barely afford it.
To quote a gay movie, “Like, they have a Porsche but they don’t have $10 to put in the gas tank; it’s nigga-rich.”
i rather spend money on a sick honeymoon than take out a loan for a sick wedding
What’s wrong with a Miata? I always thought it was a highly regarded roadster…
For car talk, I say drive whatever you want. you are the one who pays for it, drives it, maybe even races it, if you are into that. Why should I care what other think?
Boxster drive real nice btw.
+1
Sounds like some of the posters claim an artistic license.
http://blog.priceonomics.com/post/45768546804/diamonds-are-bullshit
I am really the wrong person to ask. Like I said, I don’t get the obsession at all. But I wouldn’t want to offend anyone, so when I meet a recently engaged woman who wants to show off her ring, I give her those 15-20 seconds of checking out the ring coupled with “ Awwww yours is so nice!” It’s just easier than to explain that you don’t care about diamonds… My honest congratulations would be about the engagement itself.
Yup, they’re right up there with 924s, 928s, 996s, and Cayennes as the embodiment of all that is porsche.
My fiancee told me just before I bought a ring that she had her heart set on moissanite (nearly as hard as a diamond, more expensive than CZ). Meanwhile, I was out searching for 1.6-1.8 ct diamonds and about to drop a bloody fortune.
I picked the right broad - ring wound up costing just under $3,000 (half that was the setting).
I do not understand what you are saying. You said that the Boxster is a “fake” Porsche, but since you did not define what a Porsche is supposed to be, I took this to mean a sports car that provides the best driving experience. In this sense, the Boxster is one of the least fake Porsches. Being vague is not a substitute for having a point. The Boxster is too expensive nowadays to be a poser car as well. Even the base model starts at over $50k. For this money, there are many other cars which would better fit this definition.