How Much Should I Be Spending On An Engagement Ring? 

*“They say 3 years salary”* -Michael Scott

My Fiance is a Goth, blessing and a curse, the ring had to be custom made and shipped halfway around the world, but was actually pretty cheap because it's Black Sapphire not Diamond. With skulls, obviously.

My wifi and I spent about $175 on both of our rings. The stones fell out of hers but we still love each other ❤️ I think the ring thing is sort of an indicator of what's important to people. We aren't really into that stuff, we would rather have like a better car or a nice refrigerator. What is the point of a stupid ring? If you think you're wife will be upset if you aren't buying her a huge ring, you might not really know the person you are marrying.

$0

I love the advise.

So 8k on a ring is budgeting!? That’s alot I feel. made 95k this year.

Buy moissanite, thank me later.

Lol. A 21 year old child wanting to get married 'well, you're ready'. Papa Dave is the strict voice of reason until people rush to get married and have children. Then DO IT NOW!!

They say you spend two months salary on an engagement ring. I chose the two months I was unemployed lol.

Brace yourselves for the comments full of people saying their ring is a piece of thread and they have been happily married for 80 years.

I bought my wife’s ring for about $1,200. I made about $70,000 a year at the time. It’s about 3/4 of a karat. I told her the plan is to buy a larger ring at our 10 or 15 or 20 year anniversary (we’re at 15 years now). My wife said “no way, you gave me this one and I love this one”. She still feels that way today even when she’s around other women with like 3 karat diamonds on their finger. I’ll never let her go!

My cousin's wife makes 415k. He makes 380k. He paid 2k for the ring. It's worked out great.

Plot twist his gf watches dave Ramsey

The wedding ring does not make the marriage!

To the ladies out there. Do not pressure a man to buy you an expensive ring. When you two get married his debt (the ring) becomes your debt. Therefore you will be paying for your own ring. Let him get you what he can afford or is comfortable with paying. It's just jewelry.

Dang I'd love to invent a pointless luxury item and then convince literally everyone that they *must* spend 2-3 months' income on it.

I'd say at a minimum, all of your retirement money.

Engagement rings are artificially inflated in price, as they control the supply stream. waste of money.

My husband’s dad gave him the advice that if you can’t pay cash for it, don’t get it. I’ll never understand why people go into debt for a ring...it’s not worth it!

Just bought my girlfriend of 4 years a diamond ring for $2000. I’m 23 and currently making $70,000. Hearing Dave say this gave me a sigh of relief because I’ve never spent that much on a person but she deserves it all!!

"Diamonds are intrinsically worthless" - DeBeers Chairman Nicky Oppenheimer 1999

Ask HER what she wants in a ring. When my now husband popped the question, he asked me to go ring shopping with him. He had just bought me a pretty turquoise Navaho ring. I said let's call that the engagement ring. We had matching plain sterling silver wedding rings. We are closing in on 45 years. She might prefer a ruby, or not really care.

I knew my wife was my soul mate when she said she considers expensive jewlry and and expensive wedding a waste of money. She said to just save the money. We have been married 13 years and are on the cusp of $1 million net worth.

Dave's advice is so uniquely spot on and slices through all of the societal advice that leaves you dead broke. I've always been told 3 months pay, which is criminal. Save up for a house!

The ring is a symbol of your love; not a symbol of your wealth.

“If the size/price of the ring matters then there is something else wrong”- Dave

When I got married, my engagement ring was $200. It’s made with gold and had 7 tiny diamonds. I wear it till today. 10 years from then, we are doing better and my husband wants to upgrade my ring. We’ll spend $8000. He desires to do this and I’m happy to allow him to. Point being, you don’t have to begin a marriage with an expensive ring. Work together to build financial freedom and then, if you like, buy some nice things for yourself and the person you love.

The 3 months salary thing is literally nothing but a marketing campaign from a diamond company. It's proof that if you say something over and over and over that people think it's true.

"You know what they say 3 years salary"- Michael Scott

My engagement ring was $137 and I love it and cannot think of a more precious thing! My husband gets embarrassed when I tell people the price but I don’t think there could be anything more perfect. And I don’t think I would want to upgrade anytime soon. Maybe have a necklace that goes with it but we are both proud that we were able to cashflow our wedding and honeymoon while paying extra on his home.

My wedding ring cost $138 on sale at JC Penny’s!! We were broke and in love! Fast forward 15yrs and I have the same ring! I could have upgraded it ONE MILLION TIMES by now but 1. I love it cuz it reminds me of where we were and 2. Diamonds are man made in a lab and are pushed on the masses as a precious stone when it is not!! We need to wake up people! Everything is a 💰grab!!!

Before I watch. The answer is, whatever you can afford.

Have her watch the documentary Blood Diamonds and tell her that you care too much about child slaves to participate in that market by buying a diamond. THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!!

Love this. This is so funny too! “There is no correlation between the size of the Diamond and the success of the marriage” 😂

"If she requires 3 carrots she's probably not a keeper."

Lol. He tells a 21 year old he's ready to get married before even talking to him.

I took my fiancé to the jewelry store and let her choose. It was on sale to begin with. When I bought it I was able to get her engagement ring, wedding band, and my ring for 1,200. So, deals are out there.

I love how everyone has an opinion on not getting married or spending a lot on an engagement ring... wonder how many actually follow it.... 🤔

Don't do what my ex did: Got his mom's engagement ring from her first (of three) husbands. I didn't care what it looks like or what it costs, but it was from a woman who hated me, and from one of her divorces. The thought behind that ring was so shallow. He went to mommy & asked for a ring. I'd have been happy with nothing over that ring. Guys: Don't spend a ton of money. Your girl will be happy with something small & you can upsize later when you've got more money. If she whines, she's a princess. You can do better.

Ask your girlfriend, diamonds aren’t the choice now a days, my mother’s ring is emerald, my aunts is a ruby-just another way to safe money

Zero correlation with the size of the diamond and length of marriage. Very true

People are too cheap nowadays , if you have the money; nothing is wrong getting a great valuable ring for your soon to be wife. She’s worth that & more

I bought a $130 with life time warranty + tax included on my wife wedding ring 10 years ago, the ring is still on her finger and in good shape and we are having a very blessed life together. I love you my Lena 🌹🌹🌹

Diamonds are not even rare. The supply is hoarded on purpose. It's like oxygen was on the Lorax

Costco has good deals on diamonds. Also good place for his or hers wedding bands. With or without diamonds...

"She's wearing a headlight on her hand", too funny. "1/4 carat and it worked just fine" too funny. Good call. Informative, great humor thrown in, too.

My fiancé bought me an $8k ring on a teachers salary. I’m a nurse and together we have 200k in savings for the house we’re looking to buy in the next 6 months. our only debt being the 10k I owe on my car. And we live in NJ, it can be done with lots of hard work and being frugal. We pay ourselves first

I saved and spent 3 months salary on my wife's engagement ring. It'll be with her forever, looking at it all day every day for life... don't skimp out. It's just one of the only things that's worth the extra cost imo. If you go and change the ring later, it muddles the visual reminder of the most exciting moment of the girl's life. Just my view on it.

A real keeper would buy me an engagement amazon stock

1 week is good enough for a ring. Save your money for a down payment on a house.

Spend what you could afford without having to get a loan for a ring. In my case, it was 3k.

If she has a problem with how much the ring costs that says something about her.

I spent 3k on my wife's engagement ring she loved it! 😁

I make monthly $3200 take home pay, my fiancé around $2000. Our engagement ring cost $2200 total with tax. Decided to get a man-made diamond. You can get a higher quality and bigger diamond for less money that way. The only difference is the resale value, but as Dave said 1) it’s like furniture anyway and 2) I don’t care about that bc it’s a ring I hope to have forever symbolic of our marriage, not an investment. 💍 💎 ♥️

Awe that's so cute. Personally I wouldn't care about the cost of the ring. Wal-Mart has some cute rings. Don't judge me😊

Diamonds are worthless

Don’t buy pawn shop rings. As a woman I would not feel comfortable wearing someone else’s ring. I don’t need a big expensive ring, but I don’t want a ring that has someone else’s baggage attached to it.

Get a moissanite ring!! They're a really good substitute and they look like diamonds and they're waaaay cheaper! You could get like a 3 carat moissanite for one months salary of that guy.

Some of these questions...Dave, should I use Charmin or Quilted Northern?

My ring was 25k and a very good quality diamond. We make enough money, we could easily afford it. Not planning to buy another ring.

For $3,800 you can get a beautiful 5 carat moissanite ring. Diamonds are intrinsically worthless.

Can I also say, you CAN get an engagement ring for under $1000. Mine cost $500, and as Dave says, it makes me smile. The cost wasn’t the key to making me smile - the fact that it’s tailored to me is. I didn’t want a diamond, I wanted a unique design, and I wanted something I could actually wear every day and not snag on every other thing I touched. I ended up with a garnet set into a gold and white gold puzzle ring, and I ADORE it. Don’t fall for ‘traditional’ designs just because that’s what’s recognized as an engagement ring. Just buy a ring she’ll love and will want to wear on her left ring finger.

I've been married 20 years and my wife's boyfriend and I decided to chip in together and buy her a 2-carat friendship ring to celebrate our anniversary.

.23 ct is the Canardly series of diamonds. Canardly see it at all.

I make over 250k and bought a $3200 ring from costco! Cant go wrong! I did buy my girl a $30k car after we got married! Just marry the right girl, not the expensive ring begging girl!

My husband spent a few hundred on my engagement/wedding ring it's diamond with Sapphire, my birth stone . 10 years later a friend got engaged and he spent $2500.00 on a Big Diamond ring and the marriage lasted 18 months, were going strong still 25 this year. I didn't need a huge ring, and I still love it to this day :) Yes, he's gotten me rings , over the years but my wedding is the one I cherish the most.

I just want a ring 💍 I don't care how much

An alternative to diamond is moissanite. It’s cheaper and is rated a 9 out of 10 on the diamond scale. Remember: it’s not a diamond but it is a unique gemstone. With a moissanite you can get your fiancé a 3 carat ring for about 3,000 to 5,000 and it’s still beautiful. Think more about the marriage: a house, kids, a saving fund, etc. My mom always say it’s two people who make up a holy union and marriage, nothing else.

You can’t even tell the difference from a $500 and a $10,000 ring. The jewelers can but I mean who cares about that, the average person can’t.

Ask your future wife for input it’s very important. Thing ring will be something she will have to wear and look at for the rest of her life so if she doesn’t like it linda defeats the whole purpose. I send pics to my husband of examples of the kind of rings I liked and examples of rings I hated and also set a budget that he had to stick to. Good luck! All those men that said $0 and spend as little as possible she’s not worth it etc sound like bitter losers that are divorced or got left at the alter.

I spent 1.5 months on my wife’s ring. I felt comfortable spending this as I had no debt

My advice is definitely to use a local jeweler. They will give you a much better price and service. I got about twice the ring for the same amount of money.

I got my engagement ring for $600. I was upset I couldn't get it for $500.

I just googled what the average is for the cost of an engagement ring and I couldn't believe it. $1200-$2000 seems reasonable. I think it's financially irresponsible to spend more than $5k on an engagement ring.

My gross income allows me to spend roughly $7k on a ring and I think that's a very solid place for an engagement ring. My girlfriend however wants at least a 1.75ct diamond, which from what I've seen, runs at around $10k and up. I really don't want to disappoint her, but frankly I'd rather use the extra money for the wedding, or the honeymoon, or better yet a down payment on a nice house. I'm going to have a talk with her soon. Wish me luck lol

Mine was 120€ (around $128), and I am happy with that. It means more money for other things. Who cares about how much it was? Why care about that? It's not the point, the point is getting engaged with the person you love. I didn't even care about the ring, I cared about him proposing to me, was not thinking about the price!

Am I the only one who expected Dave to start screaming "never buy diamonds! they are a rip-off!"

Next to nothing. It's a sign of ownership for a man and a woman's worth to her and, unless it's the Hope diamond, has terrible resale value. Spend the money more wisely.

Seen plenty of terrific wedding rings from $900 to $1500 online. Just got to figure out her ring size, sometimes specific to that website/brand.

My engagement ring was $300 and my wedding ring was $300. They are both CZ. My wedding and dress combined were probably about $600. We are happily married, but I won't lie, I wish I had a nicer ring and wedding. We plan to upgrade on our 25th anniversary.

I got my wife an antique platinum ring for $425. We spent $250 on our wedding and she wore a $26 dress. Our marriage is better than anyone we know. How much you spend on "stuff" is meaningless.

3 paychecks to 3 months salary. However, spend what you can afford, there are nice rings for any budget and there is no correlation between price of engagement ring and length of marriage.

Engagement rings: $20 a piece Wedding rings: little over $200 for both Wise words from my wife at the time: "You'd just be bummed if you were to lose anything more expensive".

When I got engaged, my wife and I were driving to a golf lesson. We had planned on taking a long vacation with the dogs in August (this was in June). i said "while we're up there, how about we get married?". I then gave her a "ring" made of golf tape that I pulled off my finger... what was her engagement ring. We have the date written on it with a sharpie in our memory box! We then took her old ring from her previous marriage (which is freakin' huge), and put it in a new setting. Cost me about a grand. It was my first marriage, I didn't want the whole shebang, and she didn't either (her 2nd). The wedding itself cost about $800 including the rental on the house (which we were going to rent anyway) and finding a preacher online. We still needed 2 witnesses, and we found two strangers who happened to be looking in on the house next to the one we rented after we got up there. Had a 15 minute ceremony on the beach, busted open a bottle of champagne with our witnesses, and that was it. Bride to be was really worried about finding witnesses, and I said worst case we find a couple of drunks at the local bar and pay them $100 each. :-) True story!

I purchased the stone for my fiancées ring from a supplier and same with the metal and in total spent about $2k. I designed and made the ring myself. I didn’t buy a diamond I bought a colorless Sapphire and it’s a 2.48 kt. The ring is roughly worth between $5-$10k.

You might as well buy them a brand new luxury car to go with the fancy diamond ring, otherwise you're a cheap deadbeat

Diamonds are a girl's best friend. But a man with a good faithful heart matters more than diamonds. We all want a loyal, faithful and understanding mate. We all want love and attention. Let God lead you. By serving and making your wife first priority . That means you are serving and making God first priority too. Being equally yolk with someone meaning be a christian . Wives should be prudent, decent, appropriate and self controlled, submit to her husband. Husbands are the provider and leader. So many people dont believe in marriage no more. Too many divorces are happening. People dont value relationships no more. Some people dont have no good morals or no good values. You dont wanna be too desperate and choose the wrong partner. No ones perfect but God. God is the best everything. He is the best mate, father, mother, friend, etc. 💟💖🙏🙋

My buddy spent 20k. He makes 130k per year. But their family spends money like it's going out of style. So not surprised

Engagement rings = waste of money

Guys iv done all research get a si1 clarity and a h - d color si1 is point where human eye can't pick up in the defects and and the color is pretty important that will be a middle of line priced diamond but your wife has no clue whats shes looking at go to a diamond or jewelry exchange develop a relationship with a jeweler. I make 100k a year i payed 3600 for my wifes ring but it was apraised for 5800 its a total of 1.5ct but in two stones.

I’m all about financial literacy, but when it comes to a ring I for sure wouldn’t buy one used. You really only plan to buy one once in your life so I would buy a nice one especially because you love this person

What do you think the Mrs will say when she finds out you've been buying from a pawn shop no matter how you explain it, estate sale maybe.

Guys, it's also fine to talk to your fiance about what they want before buying a ring. Even just managing expectations is helpful. I talked to my husband about how much I thought we should spend on wedding rings. Like the caller, my spouse makes a modest salary and it just doesn't make sense to spend more than a months salary on one ring. Even if it is an engagement ring. It's not romantic to go into debt before that marriage has started.

When my husband and I got engaged when we were 22, my husband made about $65k a year at the time and he spent about $1500 on my ring. In hindsight I would have bought an artificial one because all real diamonds are blood diamonds and all the “ethical” stuff is just supply chain manipulation.

“Now the woman wears a headlight on her hand” lol hilarious😂😂😂😂

When we got engaged, he had me to go with him to pick out a ring. I don't like diamonds, so I picked out a morganite ring with a rose gold band. It was $1200 and sale for $900. I asked if there was anyway we can get it cheaper, and they gave it to us for $700. That's includes a lifetime of inspections and anything that needs to be fixed. We were thrilled! More than what I wanted him to spend, but it was the only one that truly made me smile. Its been 3 years and I still get many compliments.

Years ago our son was planing to ask a girlfriend to marry him. He asked his Dad (my husband) what kind of ring he should get. His Dad (a wise man, lol) told him to get her a ring that wouldn't turn her finger green and be done with it, LOL.

LEt me get this straight. Dave advises spending a full months salary on a ring, with no questions of Debt or emergency fund........but only he can buy new cars because we cant afford the depreciation?

*(Black Vito has left the chat)*

If my husband had spent a few thousand on a ring, I would hope it had a rocket launcher or anti-gravity device.🤷🏽‍♀️