A beautiful ring is always a blessing and will always be a reminder of what it represents, but the most important thing to me would be making certain it’s something that will mean what it should to both parties. I would honestly rather have an engagement necklace because I can wear it and enjoy it.

For my parents, my father did the three months salary thing back in 1968. My mother had a beautiful wedding and engagement ring that she planned to divide between her sons … One for each as an heirloom. Unfortunately when she took it in for repairs because one of the stones was loose the jeweler (for whatever reason) decided to meld her ring together and form a new setting. That was almost 15 years ago and still brings her to tears when she thinks about it.

It might just be me, but I think that whatever engagement jewelry a couple shares (I did give my partner a ring … He’s just determined that I require one) needs to be something that has meaning for both of them, but should never be purchased with the intention of being an heirloom item.

different custom cool. and it’s fun to go…..

These are the people who, instead of buying iPhone after iPhone and iPad after iPad, bought the stock of Apple when it was selling for about $7 early in 2003. Today, July 1, 2010, it sells around $260.

People with money don’t care about consumer goods, cars, big-screen TV’s or anything else that the masses “must have”. They know all this stuff is junk and that to buy it simply wastes money better deployed otherwise. In short, people with money got and kept it not by buying things but by buying the stocks of companies that sell things to other people…you for example.

I’ll leave you with this unsettling thought. Suppose you’d had $15,000 in October 1980 and that you’d been of a mind to “invest it”. You might have been lured to purchase jewelry, say a diamond ring, on the utterly untrue but long spread lie that diamonds are rare. Any jewelry store would have been happy to lure you in with a lot of special lighting over plush counters served by shills who are trained in how to try to induce you to put reason on hold and think romantically about how happy you would be if only you had a $15,000 diamond ring. They’d have told you it would be “AN INVESTMENT”. God help you if you fell for the scam. The ring you’d have bought on Friday, October 10th, 1980 for $15,000 would have been worth about $3,000 on Saturday, October 11th if you’d tried to sell it. It might not be worth even that today.

On Friday, October 10th, 1980, stock of Johnson & Johnson traded around $83 per share; you could have bought 180 shares for $15,000. That investment, a REAL INVESTMENT, would today, July 1, 2010, be worth over $500,000. After 48:1 stock splits, you would have over 8,600 shares of Johnson & Johnson paying annual cash dividends of almost $19,000.

You can be young in this country and be without money but this is no country in which to be old and without money. If you have no money, you have no power. If you want to end up parking cars for a high school kid who owns a parking lot, keep doing what you’ve been doing. Keep buying “diamond rings”. If you want to have some say about where and how you live and on what terms, leave the consumer goods on the shelves and buy the stocks of companies that sell things to other people. Just make sure you’re not the “other person”.

Good luck.

I bought the diamond on-line through a broker, who provided the GIA cert and photos of the stone under a microscope before I placed my order, so he looked at it pretty well before giving me a thumbs up that this is a good stone. (It wasn’t his diamond; he got it from a supplier specifically for me, and he studied it himself before telling me to go ahead and place the order.)

It turns out the diamond had a scratch on its surface that was not mentioned in the cert; thus, the scratch occurred after the cert was made but before the photos were taken. (Probably during shipment to the broker.) I had no idea about this; my independent appraiser found the scratch very easily when she studied it under a loupe, which means the broker probably saw it as well.

In fact, when I went back to look at his pictures more closely, the scratch was there as well!!

Anyway, the diamond itself was good, and the scratch wasn’t a problem due to its location on the surface, but it still would reduce the value and cost money to polish away. So I had no desire to return it and start my diamond search all over again; I simply wanted the price lowered to accommodate this new discovery, and the broker refused to budge regarding price.

Since I already paid for it (using my credit card), he would not offer me a refund, and I was not willing to send back the diamond.

The credit card’s dispute department mediated and finally resolved the issue, saving me $400 that I would have otherwise lost had I paid in cash.

Moral of the story: Paying cash is good, but use a credit card’s perks for items such as this. Also, get expensive jewelry appraised ASAP. Even if you shop somewhere extremely reputable, careless mistakes are possible.

If I spent $350 on a ring she would laugh at me and throw it in my face.

But, I’d be difficult for me to accept an engagement ring less than 10K, not that the figure means everything, but if a man can’t afford that then he can’t afford to be married… and unfortunately, it’s important to me to know that if, for some reason, i had to rely on him, he’d put for the effort.
The engagement ring my now husband bought me was a total of 20K.

but to be honest, 90% was about the fact I wanted to make sure that in a bind he’d kill himself to provide for me… and the other 10% was to have one item as a “dazzler” because I’d never buy anything so frivolous as jewelry, as I’d likely lose/destroy it.

…… I have my engagement ring insured”

I also intend not to wear any other form of jewelery.. EVER, and I bought our wedding rings, which included the ring of his choice.. .. and his choice was a Stuart Moore Rose gold ring with the price tag of 8K. (Mind you, my ring has at diamond and he’s doesn’t).

Ohh, and before you all shoot me.. I paid for 90% of our wedding, and am likely the sole bread winner once the kids are born.

I would not go into debt for jewelry or a wedding. Debt is best used for investments – education, housing, perhaps a car to get you to work. If the process of starting your lives together creates debt, you’re setting yourselves up to spend the rest of your lives together struggling with debt and possibly arguing because of financial stress. Pay cash.

Of course we know that the relationship is the most important thing between a couple. No one thinks otherwise.

Just because someone wants to spend $3k, $5k or even $15k on a ring doesn’t mean they are doomed to an unfulfilling marriage.

BTW, I know cost of living is different everywhere. It would be nice to know where everyone is from.

I am from California, land of the 7 figure homes. I was having this conversation with one of my friends and he brought up a good point.

Some people’s homes cost $100k or even less, and if you’re talking about spending over $20k on a ring, it just seems absolutely insane.

I wish my home cost only $100k.. =P

We will have wedding bands; my parents’ rings were available since my mother passed away years ago and my father is remarried. Had those rings not been available, with their inherent sentimental value, I don’t think we would have wedding bands either. Maybe something funky/cool from Saturday Market for $20.

Seriously, for me, nothing is more romantic and special than a guy who plans for our future together.

I’m buying a 2 carat, well cut- great quality ring for approx. $23k. It’s below retail, which is anywhere from $30-$50k. It’s been months but I finally found the stone and we’re having it custom made.

I’m already a homeowner, and have a decent job, with decent savings. It took a while to make the decision to buy such an expensive ring. I originally budgeted for $15k, but I really wanted to buy something over 2c. so I’m “sucking it up”

Based on the reviews I’ve already seen, I’ll probably get bashed for spending so much but like everyone says, this is what I can afford to make her happy. She didn’t want something this nice, she would of been happy with a smaller ring but I wanted to give her something that would be a reflection of my love for her.

I was just curious to see if anyone else is in a similar situation as me.

I’m 28 y/o.

It has been said before, but i will add my support – check out http://www.pricescope.com

In my opinion, a diamond is a commodity and therefore i was simply looking for the best value for the quality i wanted. If you want a High Quality diamond, I even more strongly recommend looking on the internet.

The forums here are great source of information and they have a search feature to see what diamonds are available for purchase: http://www.pricescope.com/
My search criteria: H Color, VS2 Clarity, 1.3 cts, AGS0 proportions (this gives high sparkle)

I ended up purchasing from Good Old Gold – a store located in NY, if you buy online from outside NY, No Tax! On a $10,000 purchase, that gives you more cash for buying what you want. http://goodoldgold.com/

I consider myself a frugal person, I am generally anti-Stuff, and I think that living within your means is extremely important.

However, if I have to pick my top three possessions, I will pick: my car, my laptop, and my engagement ring. Sure, they’re probably the three most expensive things I own, but I truly use them every day.

I wouldn’t have wanted anything larger (and in fact I was envisioning and hoping for a smaller ring than I got), but I love the ring that my now-husband chose, and I really do feel that it is a daily reminder and external sign of our love. Of course, we don’t need it to survive or even to be happy, but as far as Stuff in my life, I don’t regret it for a minute.

I do, however, agree with many previous posters: don’t ever go into debt for a ring. It’s not as important as financial security.

http://en.epochtimes.com/news/6-12-15/49359.html

http://www.howstuffworks.com/moissanite.htm

Moissanite gemstones rival or surpass diamond in their brilliance, fire, luster, and incredible hardness.

But still, I knew I hated diamonds.

Digging through an old jewelry box one day, I found a ring that my sister once gave (sold) to me. It’s a beautiful white-gold ring with a ruby in the middle.
And that’s when I decided that if I must have an engagement ring, there was no need to go out and buy one if I had a gorgeous one already on hand (haha, pun).
I plan to make it a family heirloom, giving it to my oldest child – whenever that time comes.

I’m still not engaged (there’s no rush for two college students), but when I do get engaged, I already have a ring…and my boyfriend won’t have to pay a dime.

Hooray!