Im thinking of getting engaged soon. When someone says you should buy a ring that you can afford. What does "afford" actually mean? Does afford mean if you have the amount in the bank that you want to spend on the ring and you dont have to finance it?
2006-10-03 18:09:19 · 11 answers · asked by bluenote12482 1 in Family & Relationships ➔ Singles & Dating
the question really is I dont really know how much I can afford to pay for a ring and I have no idea how I can come up with that figure.
2006-10-03 18:14:55 · update #1
Discuss it with your fiancee, get her opinion.
If she is the one saying get something you can afford, buy a cubic zircon ring if you are not sure about your finances. You don't want to go in to debt over a ring, there are more important things in life then an engagement ring!
2006-10-07 06:35:37 · answer #1 · answered by G♥♥G♥♥ღ 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well you know what you can't afford to spend right? You don't want to go into debt or max yourself out in case you need money for some unexpected emergency. If the price of the ring freaks you out, then you probably can't afford it. Try not to finance it if at all possible. How much cash are you comfortable with spending on an engagement ring?
2006-10-03 18:31:39 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
first of all get an idea of your girlfriends taste her dream ring etc, more than likely it will be more than what you can afford. Then do your research and go to heaps of shops/jewellry makers and see who can do you the best price for something similar to what your girlfriend wants.
What they mean by "afford" is something that you can easily pay for and it doesn't have to eat into your wedding budget, you dont want to get a $10K ring and spend the next 5 years paying it off not being able to get married. The etiquette is around 2 months salary.
Hope this helped!
2006-10-03 18:19:42 · answer #3 · answered by Knowitall 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Alot of people buy rings on time. Infact, sometimes by the time the time the time payment plan is done the engagement may have seen better days as well, but the idea is that you do NOT go out and buy something that someone with a greater income than yours would purchase. The rule of thumb years ago was that you add up what your bonuses and overtime etc is for one month of income and you spend 1/5 of that for the ring. Sometimes that is money already in the bank, and sometimes it is not. There are times too when a person's budget, or in otherwords the income they have versus the bills they have to pay leaves no room for time payments. In cases like that a person might want to consider other alternatives. By that I mean waiting until you can save some money and then making a purchase from a pawn shop with a good reputation or from an auction of which there are many on-line and a few on tv or purchasing something directly through a newspaper ad in which case you will first want the owner to go with you to a jeweler who is reputed for knowing his stuff and who can tell you if what you wish to purchase is worth it or not. The ring owner may wait outside or it is possible they will take a check and hold it until you return with their belonging or they may allow you to leave a crivers license while you have the item checked out professionally. The jeweler will also be able to tell you then if there is a loose or broken prong or anything like that. I have a $5000 ring set that we bought at a pawn shop some years back for $200 and at the time it was worth $1600 but the pawn broker was eager to move it because it was a size 4 and most women take a size 7. For around $20 today a ring can be cut and heated and the gold added to make the band larger. If you do that though, ask how it will be enlarged. A very few settings cannot always be made larger, especially a basket setting with alot of filligree as it is more fragile to work with, or the settings that have invisible sets. I would not even buy one of those because when underpressure a stone can come out and when it does, any around it soon will also. Know too that tiffany settings are the prongs that hold a diamond up tall and are beautiful but not horribly practical. The prongs wear very easily and then the stone is lost. Go shopping in a few jewelry stores first so that the jeweler can put you wish to what to look for. In a diamond it is cut, clarity, color, and carat. That means shape, imperfections, color such as blue, black, blue-whilte, colorless etc, and size. You can buy a nice loose diamond (1 ct for example for $600 new or a perfect one with a specialty cut and no imperfections for thousands). When a jeweler tells you the average price for a carat for another example, and shows you a ring with 2 cts of diamonds do not let it confuse you. A single carat is far more expensive than a pile of little chips that total a carat or than side stones of that total weight. Now that is presuming you are going to look at a diamond set at all. Some women prefer the center stone to be a good ruby, sapphire, tanzanite, or something else they like, including their birthstone.
It used to be that men shopped for the ring with their intended. Today many women do not get to see the ring before they put it on and I think that is a shame since they plan to wear it for life. Go through some catalogues and get an idea of the style at least that she likes and what color gold she prefers. Check Ebay out, see what others are offering and watch their customer satisfaction rating. If you buy from ebay remember that it may be easier to purchase from US sellers than others. There is a currency difference. Cheack out all of your options before you buy and set a price you will be happy with. Then only look at rings in that price range. Never be afraid to ask a jeweler, seller, or pawn shop owner if he would be able to come down any in price-especially if you are paying cash in full. Best wishes.
2006-10-03 18:40:25 · answer #4 · answered by beverly p 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Buy the most expensive ring you can afford.
2006-10-03 18:28:10 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some jewelers say it's 10 - 20% of your salary for a year.
2006-10-03 18:11:48 · answer #6 · answered by brillantnut 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Here's the interpretation: Did you know Mastercard has a platinum level now?
2006-10-03 18:11:55 · answer #7 · answered by You'll Never Outfox the Fox 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
one or two months salary is what I have heard
$500 - $2000 depending on the girl and the stone you get her.
2006-10-03 18:29:15 · answer #8 · answered by Kuraimizu 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It probably means she doesn't want you to spend more than you are comfortable with. She doesn't want you to go into debt. She cares.
2006-10-03 18:32:45 · answer #9 · answered by Kerry 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means she wants something expensive, she's just trying not to hurt your feelings.
2006-10-03 18:12:22 · answer #10 · answered by bernie2u4 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋