How much am I expected to spend on an engagement ring and is there any leeway given the tough economic times? Any pointers from you married folks would be appreciated…
I’m looking myself right now too. It has historically been 1 month’s salary. Wish I had thought about that when I was a pauper! Leeway depends on how your prospective partner might feel about it and whether she has this ballpark figure already (mine does dammit).
I think the minimum standard is 3 months of gross salary (on average).
The price for an engagement ring can vary considerably depending on the materials used, the value of the gemstone, and the retailer. A conventional buying price ranging from two to three months’ wages for a ring guideline originated from De Beers marketing materials in the early 20th century, in an effort to increase the sale of diamonds.
salary before or after tax?
This won’t help because that is the standard, but unfortunately that standard is just a number created by De Beers marketing department. Diamonds and engagement rings are the biggest scam of the 20th century. It’s the emperors new clothes. It’s like when the explorers used to buy land form native with worthless shiny items. “A conventional buying price ranging from two to three months’ wages for a ring guideline originated from De Beers marketing materials in the early 20th century, in an effort to increase the sale of diamonds.” - Wikipedia http://www.halfsigma.com/2006/11/the_diamond_sca.html
you should spend your net realized profit from trading this year. If it is negative, your fiance should buy you a watch instead
Just go look at some rocks. Going in on price alone just doesn’t work, you need to know a bit about the “P’s” of diamonds and then start picking the things you care about around that. I mean you can just go in and say “gimme the best 20k ring you have”, but in my mind thats not the best way to go about it.
Man Show: As much as you’re comfortable stuffing into a paper bag, lighting on fire, and throwing out the car window. They say 2-3 months salary. However, I would think your potential fiance would think ~$15-25k would be a bit excessive. My college friends have purchased diamond rings inside of $10k that look very nice. I wouldn’t be so pessimistic about rings if they were actually appreciating assets. In reality, diamonds depreciate nearly as quickly as an automobile.
Get the ring that will take your girls breathe away. Follow the three C’s as the color and clarity of a stone will add to the price really fast. Don’t worry about the three months salary, I would have been put in the poor house if I followed that when I got engaged.
disagree. You get huge appreciation out of diamonds, just not monetary. Happy fiancee, jealous friends, its all about the ego when it comes down to rings.
Screw this multiple of salary crap. Do your homework, neogiate the crap out of people and get a really good deal on a diamond. I bought a ring with an appraised value of $8,000 for $3,000. If your fiance ends up being like my wife she won’t wear the engagement ring anyway (just wears wedding band)!!! WTF!!! No way I spend 3x monthly. My ring cost $40.
C’s not P’s, man it is early today…
This site has some pretty helpful stuff (and I think it mentions the 1X salary figure). http://www.jamesallen.com/engagement-ring.asp My advide - make sure she thinks you earn a lot less.
Or just be like me and marry a fantastic woman who wanted only a gold wedding band, because she thinks diamonds are too gaudy. We spent about $400 on our two rings.
This thread is absolutely terrible - I agree with trek7000 you should get a ring that your girl really loves, it might be expensive or cheap but either way it’s better than getting moaned at 24/7 cos she liked a different one… you lads shouldn’t be thinking about price, if you loved her you’d be thinking about what would make her happy!
tvPM Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > disagree. You get huge appreciation out of > diamonds, just not monetary. Happy fiancee, > jealous friends, its all about the ego when it > comes down to rings. Yeah I have to agree. Put down the cash this one time and never worry about it again. You would be surprised how much girls actually care even though they say they don’t.
At least 2 carats.
My advice is to let her choose the ring. Use a dummy ring if you like for the proposal.