3 Months salary on an engagement ring? Are they nuts?
How much should I spend on an engagement ring?
I was hanging out with friends over the holiday and one of them asked me “How much should I spend on an engagement ring?” and then he gave me that “Are you kidding me?” look when I suggested that he spend whatever amount of money he is comfortable spending on an engagement ring and said “Aren’t there any sort of guidelines for how much I’m supposed to spend on an engagement ring?”
And while there are several schools of thought on how much you should spend on an engagement ring, I hate to put that kind of pressure on people because a diamond engagement ring is supposed to be a symbol of everlasting love and how can you put a price tag on that?
Obviously diamond engagement rings cost money, but how much money you spend on an engagement ring should be based upon your personal situation, the financial resources which you have available, your financial obligations, your personal preferences, and most likely the expectations of your soon-to-be fiancé.
The average price of a diamond engagement ring:
According to the results of a poll published by the xogroupinc which surveyed more than 10,000 brides and 1000 grooms, the average amount of money spent on an engagement ring in 2011 was $5,200 with 53% of the center stones purchased being round brilliant cut diamonds like those featured in the Brian Gavin Signature and Brian Gavin Blue collections of round brilliant ideal cut diamonds.
About 12% of couples polled spent more than $8,000 on a diamond engagement ring, which is considered to be the luxury segment of the market. According to the poll results, the average cost of “luxury engagement rings” was $13,500 and while this information is certainly interesting, it does not necessarily indicate how much you should spend on an engagement ring.
The two month salary engagement ring rule:
Marketing material paid for by DeBeers in the mid-1900’s suggested that men spend between one and two months’ salary on a diamond engagement ring. The premise behind the “guideline” was to ensure that guys who tended to work together, married women of the same socio-economic class, and lived their lives entertaining friends from the same social network, would buy diamond engagement rings for their girlfriend’s who would then be wearing rings which all cost about the same…
Suffice to say that life was different in the days that the television show Mad Men is based upon, and not too many jewelers advise their clients to spend two months’ salary on an engagement ring these days… No, they actually are bold enough to recommend that you should spend three months salary on an engagement ring!
3 Months salary on an engagement ring? Are they nuts?
It might seem bold for a retail jeweler to suggest that you spend three months salary on an engagement ring, but it might simply be a reflection of what people are spending on diamond engagement rings these days in order to maintain appearances and keep up with the Jones’s.
According to the US Census Bureau the median household income in 2012 was $51,371 which breaks down to $4,280 per month, and we’re not going to worry about who earned the money because once you get married, it’s irrelevant.
Let’s say that your fiancé has her heart set on a Halo style engagement ring (pictured left) with a round brilliant cut diamond weighing at least 1.10 carats, because her best friend just got engaged and her diamond is 1.05 carats… and it also needs to be VS-2 clarity and H-color or better, because that’s the quality of her girlfriend’s diamond… and while you know that she probably understands that you might not make the same amount of money as her friend’s fiancé, you really want to make her happy and save face with her group of friends. You search our inventory and decide upon this 1.13 carat, H-color, VS-2 clarity, Brian Gavin diamond with strong blue fluorescence.
Now the diamond is $7,800.00 and the setting is $3,260.00 which adds up for a total of $11,060.00 which is just a little less than three months salary if you earn the national median of $4,280.00 per month, in which case the advice being given by a lot of retail jewelers that their customers spend three months salary on an engagement ring might not be that far off.
At the end of the day, my advice is that people should spend the amount of money that they are comfortable spending on an engagement ring, based upon their individual circumstances and desires… there is no right or wrong amount of money to spend on an engagement ring.
