| The commonly reported average price for an | | | | semiprecious stones, sterling settings, and other |
| engagement ring is currently between $3,000 and | | | | money savers. If you choose a ring that both |
| $4,500 - but you can spend anywhere from a | | | | parties love, and feel expresses the power and |
| few hundred to a few million dollars if your budget | | | | passion of your relationship, the expensive route |
| allowed. An engagement ring can be a beautiful, | | | | of diamonds, gold and platinum are unnecessary. |
| timeless symbol of the intentions you share to | | | | Consider that a wide range of options are open to |
| create a life-long marriage. Or, poorly thought out, | | | | you, each with their own pros and cons, and each |
| it can be a budgeting catastrophe. | | | | needing to be considered carefully by a new |
| Jewelers would often like you to take the | | | | couple. |
| average cost of an engagement ring, or the often | | | | Even if the two of you decide you want to go |
| cited "two months of a man's salary" as a starting | | | | the traditional route in terms of spending, be sure |
| point, and move up from there. However many | | | | you spend wisely: that $3,000 to $4,500 spread |
| young couples should not be putting their | | | | permits you many choices. Consider: you can |
| investment into their rings, or their wedding | | | | choose a good simulated diamond, or several of |
| ceremony and party, but into the basic | | | | the diamond substitute minerals, and get all or |
| infrastructure of their upcoming shared economy. | | | | more glitz and glitter and as much strength and |
| That said, an engagement ring, carefully planned | | | | durability, a bigger stone, and a richer and more |
| for and budgeted for, can prove to be a | | | | elaborate setting in a far more enduring metal |
| worthwhile investment, if (and only if) it is treated | | | | than soft gold. |
| with the same sort of serious, careful forethought | | | | Or you can purchase a strong non-diamond |
| any long-term investment would rate. | | | | precious stone. You can look into the possibility of |
| An investment of $3,000 to $4,500 in a piece of | | | | commissioning a professional jewelry designer to |
| jewelry for example, should be placed on a piece | | | | produce a completely unique ring: a work of art |
| of lasting value, of a design that will weather daily | | | | unlike any before or since. |
| wear and tear with minimum loss of value. It | | | | Don't trap yourself in a corner by accepting the |
| should be insured as real property: everyone has | | | | "norms" or the "average" when you decide to get |
| heard the sad tale of the ring lost down the sink, | | | | married. Make each of the choices leading up to |
| stolen by robbers, or buried in the garden during | | | | that event with the same commitment and |
| spring planting. Or, for that matter, swallowed by | | | | determination you think your entire married life is |
| a baby, cooked into a casserole for a church | | | | worth. By laying the groundwork in all ways in |
| social, or any of a number of other things. | | | | advance, you increase the odds of success |
| Insure your investment if you are placing enough | | | | throughout your married days -- and the odds of |
| money on a ring to rate counting it as an | | | | both of you delighting in your ring long after |
| investment, treat it as such and cover it. | | | | others have ceased even noticing the glitter on |
| If you want to take a lesser route, consider | | | | the finger. |