Engagement ring

[EagerGreenShaker]

If your partner was to propose to you today, roughly how much would you expect them to spend on an engagement ring?

i get that the value of a ring is not important and most people would be happy with any ring at all but just curious as to what people would say for they would expect a partner to pay on a ring you would love

Oh this was mine. And we got engaged last year btw. It’s perfect for me - I’m a redhead and gold jewellery looks awful on me!

He’d want to spend more on it than I would want him to. I would rather use the money for a holiday or to put towards us buying a property!

As long as it was thoughtful, I don’t care.

but also something that I could wear/keep forever. Not something so cheap it falls apart - in which case I’d not want anything.

I am already married. Anything up to £1000 I would be fine with though. I specifically told my DH not to buy something expensive. To be honest I wouldn’t trust myself not to lose it. It’s also in my opinion a bit of a waste of money. I hate the thought of wearing a ring worth thousands of pounds.

I do know someone that was very much I have told him it must be at least 1 carat diamond. She did get a big diamond and a very expensive wedding to follow. Which in my opinion is ridiculous when they are desperate to move to a bigger house but can’t afford it.

We chose mine together. We started by wandering around various jewellery shops where nothing appealed then we happened on a lovely antique centre, and this one just stood out as being "the one". It is the prettiest ring I'd ever seen but didn't cost nearly as much as some of the new rings. DH earns a fair bit so I would not want to go around with a month's salary on my finger in any event!

I woukd expect him to have taken the time and effort to understand that sort of thing that I would like in terms of how he proposed, with what, costing what (affecting our financial life) etc

The preferences on those things will vary from person to person

That’s ok. We don’t have to feel the same way. I love expensive, life-long jewellery, and that’s ok too.

No one said it was. Yet large purchases are best considered against affordability, are they not?

The design and quality is more important than a target financial value surely?

Wouldn’t even like to hazard a guess. Whatever he could afford to spend on a ring he thought I would love seems reasonable.
I don’t know how much my engagement ring cost. I do know, however, that it is vintage, c. 1920s, beyond gorgeous and my husband put a lot of time and thought into choosing it for me.

My husband put a lot of thought into my engagement ring, I don’t know how much it cost but I loved it.

An inflation calculator tells me that if my ring were the same relative price as the year it was bought, it would cost about £200. Probably not the whole picture as it's gold, which was relatively less expensive back then.

There's a vintage ring I've had my eye lately on selling for £300 so if I were getting engaged tomorrow, that's what I would choose!

Ridiculous amount of money
Spend it on something useful

I had no expectation at all. DH had saved a bit and we went shopping together to choose…. He said if it was the ring I loved and more than he’d saved that we’d make it work. It was actually a bit less I think. Roughly $2k from what I can remember.

Mine was £11k 25 years ago. Vintage, chosen with much thought (and saving!) by DH. Also an absolute bargain, recent insurance valuation has it at £65k.
I wear it everyday.

If we all only ever spent our money on 'something useful' life would be very dull.

Gold jewellery has one useful quality in that it always has a resale value, even if only the scrap value of the metal!

That’s relative to what one earns and what one likes to spend their money on.

If thats affordable for them, its probably no more ridiculous than an expensive handbag or shoes. Lots of people would choose for example a car that was not the most basic, or cheapest, to fit their needs.
A ring may well outlast a handbag or shoes! And is worn every day in a lot of cases.

I wouldn’t give a shit about the cost provided I liked the ring. I don’t like yellow gold and I wouldn’t want a white diamond as the main stone. I like black diamonds, garnets and emeralds. A quick look online suggests that the rings I like are mostly around the £700 mark, which isn’t even a week’s salary for my partner, let alone a month’s.

If my partner was going to spend thousands of pounds on me, I’d rather he spent it on a holiday (which is actually what he’s just bought me for my 50th) than jewellery. I like jewellery a lot, but not really gold or diamonds and I’ve got zero interest in gemstone prices and things.

I have no problem with other people spending whatever they want though.

If someone’s got a few grand to spare they can spend it on whatever makes them happy. It’s none of your business whether it’s ‘useful’ or not.

3-5k. a couple of months salary would be 20k so that's ridiculous. I wouldn't mind if it was cheaper either, if it's perfect. I am hoping to get engaged this year so this is on my mind a lot lately. Mainly style over cost. I think I'd like a coloured stone like an aquamarine rather than a diamond but I'm not sure.

What are you buying for him and for how much?

A few £100, definitely less than £1k. I wouldn't wear it so would not want much at all spent on it when the money could be much better spent on something else.

I guess if you like rings your answer may be different.

When we got married we split it that DH bought the engagement ring and I bought the two wedding rings, which was a good way of evening out the costs.