Engagement rings how what price range is right.

**MonkeyMama** · 08-19-2009, 05:34 PM

I got engaged when I Was 18 - we spent $100 or so. Still LOVE my ring. My spouse and I were broke and had much more important things to save for (like college, home, etc.)

**Joan.of.the.Arch** · 08-19-2009, 05:56 PM

I have no idea how much you can spend, but remember that if you are buying an engagement ring, you probably will also be buying a wedding ring. I would rather have a more expensive wedding ring than engagement ring, as the wedding ring would likely be worn every day for the rest of my life. Many women do not wear their engagement rings every day. One of the reasons for that is that they usually have stones. Stones can get caught on things and be a danger in some people's everyday life (like mine!). But you might want to budget for the wedding ring and the engagement ring together, especially if your wedding is near.

Will she be buying you a wedding ring? You might be looking at a matching set for either engagement & wedding, or the wedding rings for the two of you. So between the two of you, there might need to be a budget for 3 rings. Don't spend it all on the engagement ring.

**psuicyde king** · 08-19-2009, 05:57 PM

a happy wife is more valuable than a big house. it is, however, important to make sure she understands the trade off she's making, and that the size of the ring doesn't change how much you love her

**nycguy567** · 08-19-2009, 06:18 PM

before you think about an engagement ring, i'd advise a prenuptial to delineate your assets in the event of death or divorce. be cognizant of the 10 year marital asset division statutes and openly communicate your expectations of marriage.

here's a recent thread on another forum that goes in depth about the engagement ring topic:

Thinking of proposing, any good sites for engagement rings?? - E46Fanatics

**Cassandra** · 08-19-2009, 06:54 PM

My fiance and I spent about $600 on my engagement ring and wedding band (I obviously do not wear the band just yet). I wouldn't spend much more than a few hundred on an engagement ring, but that is just me.

**sandrark** · 08-19-2009, 10:05 PM

We spent ~ $2500 on my engagement ring in 1996, and about $45 on the wedding ring (I wanted a plain wedding ring, since (for me) its intrinsic value has nothing to with its extrinsic cost).

DH's wedding ring is yellow gold and platinum, self-designed and custom-made by a local jeweler. It's 9 mm wide, and cost $1700 (about 1/3 the cost of what Macy's was charging for platinum and gold wide band men's rings).

FInd a local jeweler who can MAKE your fiancee's ring - you can probably get that $2200 ring for $1000.

And you're right - do NOT liquidate your savings to buy a ring. Set a budget, talk to the jeweler, and find a middle ground. Offer to upgrade the stone for your 10 year anniversary, if that's important to her.

My personal belief is that planning a wedding together, with all its attendant decision-making and priority-setting, is a GREAT way to insure you're a team. If you can't negotiate and come to an agreement about budget and priorities NOW, do NOT marry her.

Sandi

**project15** · 08-20-2009, 05:35 AM

Originally posted by nycguy567 View Post

before you think about an engagement ring, i'd advise a prenuptial to delineate your assets in the event of death or divorce. be cognizant of the 10 year marital asset division statutes and openly communicate your expectations of marriage.

here's a recent thread on another forum that goes in depth about the engagement ring topic:

Thinking of proposing, any good sites for engagement rings?? - E46Fanatics

I would not recommend this if you expect your marriage to last. Anyways, from the OP's other posts, this would be a waste of money since he and his girlfriend would be starting their wealth building life together (ie...doesn't have anything right now just how most of us started out).

As for the price, I got my wife a $1,000 engagement ring and then a $400 wedding ring that matches it. She wears both everyday since she had them soldered together. Yes, she's told me she wants a bigger diamond, but my aunt gave us good advice and said that a bigger diamond wouldn't reflect the point in your life that you're at. In 20 years, when you're making more money, you can upgrade.

Edit: The post above me has great information as well!

**Mjenn** · 08-20-2009, 06:09 AM

I don't know exactly how much my engagement ring cost, but I know I was most surprised when he popped the question because it was a very tight time for us and we had almost 0 extra funds so it couldn't be much.

Our engagement ring was a bit of a discussion only because in his culture you get engaged with matching plain gold bands, and well, I grew up with diamonds.

In the end, though, it really wasn't about the ring, it was about the guy. I knew that if I wanted a diamond I was going to be waiting a long time and that seemed silly. The ring we can always get many years down the road. Besides, I'm not a jewelry type of girl. I would always chose a trip over a ring any day of the week. We got thin gold bands and I love mine.

If she's shown you rings from 400-2200 it tells me she is willing to be flexible in all this, so you need to decide what you feel comfortable with. It is a ring that she will, probably, wear forever, so the 2,200 is not going down the toilet. But if that is out of your budget, so for a less expensive and upgrade later.

**Merch** · 08-20-2009, 06:46 AM

I would say, what can you comfortable afford? If you got the cash, I would prbably go with the one she likes. My wife wears hers every day and loves it. The saying goes "happy wife, happy life." But again use cash.

As for a prenup, I don't think that's really necessary in most cases. I only think you need to protect your assets, if you have millions of dollars. Most of the net worth you will accumulate while be when you are married and she will be entitled to half of that (in my opinion).

To me, it doesn't make sense to protect tens or even hundreds of thousands when I plan on eclipsing that net worth while being married.

**LivingAlmostLarge** · 08-20-2009, 07:16 AM

Depends on how much you have. If you make $100k+ and won't buy a $2200 ring, then uh maybe you can consider afford it.

What's the point of a prenup unless you have assets? If you have nothing and build it together than what?

**MonkeyMama** · 08-20-2009, 07:29 AM

Sorry, I didn't get a chance to finish my thought.

Broke, spent little on the ring.

We married 5 years later, were making about 5 times the income, combined, and we decided to splurge on a wedding ring ($1k range, which was a lot for us to spend on a piece of jewelry - still not a huge priority).

Honestly, looking back, I wish I didn't spend so much on the wedding ring. Really glad we didn't spend more!

I certainly wouldn't marry someone who cared more about a ring than my budget. But that's me!

My engagement ring is nothing fancy, but it will always means something to me, and I will always proudly wear it. (Many people told us we would replace it when we had more money. I don't think so!!!!)

**Joan.of.the.Arch** · 08-20-2009, 08:45 AM

My engagement ring is nothing fancy, but it will always means something to me, and I will always proudly wear it. (Many people told us we would replace it when we had more money. I don't think so!!!!)

Yeah, to me, replacing your engagement ring when you have more money is kinda weird. If my beloved had put a twisty-tie from a Wonder Bread wrapper on my finger I would never replace it! Maybe it is like replacing the first card your child ever made for you with a better one, once she's grown a bit and gotten better drawing skills. It is all the more sweet for its simplicity in comparison to where you later arrive at in life. There just is no replacement!

**Ima saver** · 08-20-2009, 09:13 AM

I have 4 diamond rings, my original engagement ring, a ring I won in a contest and my mother's two diamond rings.
Instead, I wear an absolute diamond ring that I got from QVC for about $150. It looks more real than anything I have ever seen and no one can tell the difference! I love it and never have to worry about losing it!

**grammie** · 08-20-2009, 09:47 AM

I'm in agreement with what most of the women are saying....I had no need for a pricey engagement ring. In fact, I didn't have an engagement ring...just a cheap wedding band we picked up at a gift shop while vacationing. Our priorities were elsewhere when it came to our money. I would take the fact that your fiance is pointing you toward a ring that seems to be too pricey for your budget as a warning signal that she may not be as thrifty with money as she should be. It's not really her fault and she can easily learn. There's a big marketing machine out there designed to make every young women feel that she's not doing it right if she doesn't have the flashy ring, engagement parties, destination weddings, a $2,000 dress, etc. You may have seen some of the ads that jewelry companies run saying that the ring should total a certain number of months salary, but that's just a marketing ploy. Let her know you want her to have the best money can buy because she deserves it but you also want her to have a secure financial future. The way you two communicate about money and other important issues will have a lot more to do with having a happy marriage than what ring you buy.

Engagement rings how what price range is right.