How much should you spend on an engagement ring?
You’re ready to start looking for an engagement ring, but you’re not sure where to start. How much do you budget to spend on an engagement ring? Should it have one diamond, multiple diamonds, or a completely different stone? Where is the best place to purchase engagement rings? If you have these questions, you’re in the right place, no one will provide you the same value & customer service as us, we guarantee it.
Whenever it’s time to take your relationship and commitment to the next level, you will want to make sure that you propose with the perfect ring. This is one of the moments that you’ll remember for a long time, even the rest of your life. At first glance, buying an engagement ring might not seem as though it will be that difficult. All you have to do is locate a jewelry store and show up with money, right? If you start with this ideology, you’ll soon find that as you stare at the rows of rings in a variety of shapes, sizes, and prices with no real idea what the ring cost should be. Doing some research on engagement rings prior to purchasing one will go a long way whenever it comes to choosing a ring style and making a decision on how much to spend on an engagement ring.
We’ll take you through the average engagement ring cost in 2020, and review some of the myths that surround how much to spend on an engagement ring. We’ll also discuss some of the factors you will want to consider while you shop for the right ring for your partner and your budget – we want your honeymoon to be spent in a penthouse, not the doghouse.
What is the average engagement ring cost?
Diamonds continue to remain a serious investment. According to the 2020 Jewelry and Engagement Study performed by The Knot, the average cost of an engagement ring is $5,500, as of 2020. If you’re currently trying to decide how much to spend on an engagement ring, there are quite a few factors that you should consider.
Though $5,500 is the national average cost of a ring, the amount that each couple spends will vary. The Knot’s study found that 25% of all participants spent between $1,000 and $3,000 on their engagement ring. Even more compelling, 11% of the engagement ring shoppers spent under $1,000!
It’s important to keep in mind that $5,500 national average was found by taking responses from people all over the country and was influenced by many factors, such as region, ring budget, month’s salary, and brides’ overall lifestyle.
What engagement ring types are popular?
Though there has been a large shift in the market for engagement rings, center diamond engagement rings are top sellers. A large amount of couples are opting for the classic look of diamonds with a staggering 86% of ring shoppers requesting a diamond engagement ring.
Using an alternate center stone is still a common choice for couples, however. One of these gems is moissanite, a diamond-like gemstone, which continues to increase in popularity. In 2020, 26% of couples who bought an engagement ring with an alternate precious stone purchased a moissanite engagement ring, a 7% increase from 2019.
Around two-thirds of all engagement rings have a center stone that is between a half-carat and one-and-a-half carats in carat weight. For shape, in 2020, 43% of all rings had a stone with a round cut and nearly 58% of rings featured a diamond center stone with side accents, while 25% had only solitaire diamond on the band.
Engagement rings aren’t just about the stones, though. The type of metal that is used to create the band is important to couples as well. The most popular metal setting among ring shoppers is white gold, with 48%Â of participants in The Knot’s 2020 study opting for this material, rather than another metal type. Engagement rings using yellow gold were the second most popular with 16% choosing this metal, while rose gold was the third most popular with 13% of shoppers choosing this metal.
Consider Using The Engagement Ring as Part of the Wedding Ring
Wedding sets that incorporate engagement rings into completed wedding bands are a popular item with many couples. In addition to potentially keeping the ultimate ring cost down, depending on the jacket or stacked ring that accompanies the engagement ring, it will allow brides with such wedding bands to remember their engagement every time they look at the set on their finger. Incorporating engagement ring costs into the wedding ring like this would be a double win & might provide more diamonds on your budget & would be money well spent!
You can absolutely ignore this outdated rule!
Engagement Ring Budgets
Engagement ring prices are clearly an important part of choosing the perfect ring. But how do you begin to determine how much to spend on an engagement ring to propose to your partner with? The answer to this question is one that is varied, subjective, and highly debated.
The first thing that you should do is determine what the highest price point within your budget is. This is one of the most important steps, so you should take the time to review prices and your income in order to determine a price point. Once you’ve determined a budget, you will need to prioritize aspects of the ring, such as carat weight and quality, in order to narrow down your search further.
Sticking to your budget may be slightly challenging, so make sure that you spend an appropriate amount of time reviewing your priorities for the ring and take the appropriate time to shop for rings that are within your budget and meet the requirements that you have set from a variety of shops and jewelry stores.
While the cost of an engagement ring is important, it’s also important to consider the cost of insurance for your new engagement ring. Experts recommend that couples should insure their rings, as the rings are such a high-cost / high-value purchase that you won’t want to lose without financial support.
What rules for how much to spend on engagement rings are there? Should you follow them?
The one-, two-, and three-month salary rule:
One of the most common rules that you will encounter while shopping for engagement rings is the one-month salary rule, or any variation of this. This rule says that you should spend X month’s gross income that you get from your job(s) on an engagement ring. What few people tend to realize is that this one-month “rule” began as a marketing technique in the diamond industry that diamond marketers used around the beginning of World War II in order to increase sales. As time went on, this grew to the two- and three-month’s salary rules that you will hear today. This guideline is a highly unrealistic guide to follow, as it doesn’t consider all of the other factors that are going into the buyer’s finances, such as bills, student loans, cost-of-living in the area, etc. No matter what diamond marketers will attempt to persuade you to spend, you don’t want to spend the first several years of your marriage in debt or paying off the engagement ring.
You can absolutely ignore this outdated rule!
We feel that the biggest rule for people to follow is to communicate with one another & not worry about how much money they should or shouldn’t spend on a ring but you’re here reading this, which means it’s important to you. So, back to answering the question asked by a lot of people – how much money should an engagement ring cost?
Engagement ring calculators:
Engagement ring calculators are used in order to help you decide how much to spend on an engagement ring by getting information about your income, lifestyle, and debts. If you would like to use an engagement ring calculator, like this one from Jewelry Wise, in order to help yourself determine a budget, you can definitely do this! However, you should make sure that you stay clear of hokey or scammy versions.
How much should you really spend?
As you know by now, you should develop a budget prior to beginning your search for the perfect ring for your significant other. This is going to guide the engagement ring purchasing process and will help you know how much you will be spending early on in the process. From there, consider your priorities. Do you want a diamond engagement ring or do you want another gemstone? Are you willing to sacrifice on quality to have a larger diamond ring or are you more likely to purchase a larger moissanite engagement ring? Do you want a simpler band on the ring or do you want to have smaller gemstones that line the band?
With this advice in mind, here are a few things that will help you determine how much to spend on an engagement ring:
- Financial Situation:Â Determine what price point you’re comfortable with, especially if you expect to have ring payments going forward. You’ll want to evaluate your current financial situation in order to determine what you can afford.Â
- Partner’s Expectations: Your end goal is to find an engagement ring your significant other will love, the ring budget isn’t necessarily the only important factor. If the surprise factor isn’t important to you, ask your partner outright for ring options, or go “window shopping” for a ring together so that you can see what your partner leans towards. If you prefer your proposal to be a surprise, try asking friends or family of your partner for guidance. You’ll also need to consider their personal style, hobbies, and lifestyle to determine what style of ring will fit into their life the most.
- Meaningfulness of Ring: A thoughtful engagement ring purchase that represents your partner’s personality and/or your relationship will be so much more meaningful than the biggest diamond ring you can find. It’s possible that your partner would prefer an heirloom over a brand new diamond engagement ring, or maybe they would like to break with tradition and skip a diamond altogether, substituting the diamonds for their favorite gemstone.
Have An Engagement Ring Question? Ask Us!
Regardless of the amount that’s spent on the ring, we know that people want their partner to be happy more than anything. Many women want a fairytale wedding ceremony & men want women to be happy. Worrying about the ring shouldn’t be part of the stress of pulling off the perfect day so please, ask us anything about your engagement ring.
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