for those engaged/married . . . . diamonds :)

[Davegod75]

When they say two months salary do they mean before or after taxes.....

everything i like is like 5,500 plus..and that's just the diamond

of course that's

cut = ideal
color = F or higher
clarity = VVS1 or higher
carat = .6 - .1
polish/symmery = VG/VG or higher

Am I too picky?..if so what is the thing you can get lower of without sacraficing look

 

[bernse]

Be careful.

THEY = Diamond Industry.

They are not your friends.

Buy what you can afford. IMHO, 2 months salary is too much.

 

[trmiv]

If I spent two months salary on a ring for my girlfriend, she'd kill me. She'd much rather we spend that money on something practical. Anyway, the two months thing is not a rule, consider what you can afford, and look for things in your price range. If two months salary is going to put you in the poor house, spend less. If your fiance-to-be can't live with that, she's a too materialistic.

 

[Freejack2]

Well I guess you could always buy a cultured diamond and not tell her. Apparently the jewlers can't even tell it from the real thing.

 

[NakaNaka]

I also agree the 2 months thing is way too high. That was created by some stupid, rich women who want to suck all the money they can out of their men.

Also - I agree. The Diamond instustry (aka DeBeers) is baaaad. Do a search, there's a very long discussion of diamonds not from South Africa (aka they are real diamonds but made in a plant) and a whole Wired article on them. Also, about how bad DeBeers is.

 

[ReiAyanami]

de beers - we know where you live

 

[Geekbabe]

Big jewelery has never been important to me.

 

[Davegod75]

yeah i read the wired article...I would get one of the ones from the chemical process rather than the other one.

where can you buy the ones made from the chemical process? edit: chemical vapor deposition

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: Davegod75
When they say two months salary do they mean before or after taxes.....

everything i like is like 5,500 plus..and that's just the diamond

of course that's

cut = ideal
color = F or higher
clarity = VVS1 or higher
carat = .6 - .1
polish/symmery = VG/VG or higher

Am I too picky?..if so what is the thing you can get lower of without sacraficing look

hell that would be a hell of a lot of money for a ring if it was b4 taxes; its a lot after anyways.

 

[radioouman]

Two months salary is too much, especially with all of the things to spend money on when you are first starting out.

 

[Gyrene]

My fiance said she would have been happy with a $400 ring, but me being the stupid person I am, went out and spent $12,000, then lost my job a month later. She has a nice ring, but now she gets to support us while I finish college so I can obtain my new job.
Just get something you can afford, if she loves you she won't care about the price. She might even get mad if it's too much (like my girl).

 

[The Sauce]

Search for Moissonite.

 

[yruffostsif]

When I got engaged 8 years ago, I spent 4 months salary on a ring, now I make that in a week and am more broke then I was then.

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: NakaNaka
I also agree the 2 months thing is way too high. That was created by some stupid, rich women who want to suck all the money they can out of their men.

Actually, the "two months salary" guideline was created by DeBeers! Not that anyone should be surprised.

 

[m2kewl]

dude, spending that much shiet on a piece of carbon is just CRAZY!

you're brainwashed by de beers and the diamond industry BS. IMHO.

 

[Vette73]

2 months on a ring = you are a idiot


Get one of the new man made ones. They look better and cost less.

 

[xchangx]

I'm getting mine from the shane company:

Ring here

That's around $3400 and is just fine for me. It's not a carat but with all the smaller diamonds around it, it should have plenty of sparkle which to me is what girls want.

Plus, they don't have a retail store in AL so tax free here. Wahoo!

 

[ryzmah]

Originally posted by: Davegod75
When they say two months salary do they mean before or after taxes.....

everything i like is like 5,500 plus..and that's just the diamond

of course that's

cut = ideal
color = F or higher
clarity = VVS1 or higher
carat = .6 - .1
polish/symmery = VG/VG or higher

Am I too picky?..if so what is the thing you can get lower of without sacraficing look

You're too picky on color - most people would need a spectrometer to tell the difference past H, and the rest would need a lot of maginifcation. I think you're too picky on clarity as well - I'd settle at VS1 or VS2. Carat you'll be able to spot the difference in look immediately, so get whatever size you're looking for (make sure to see them on a ring on a hand similar in size to the one you're buying for). Ring styles and the hand size of the person you're buying for will make a big difference in how diamonds of the same carat look. Cut is too important for the look to mess around with, and I think you're ok on polish/symmetry.

I'm not going to get involved in the diamond industry arguments - when I proposed to my wife I had a ring set with stones passed down from her grandmother and saved a bunch of cash.

 

[kranky]

I don't understand why people get so hung up on the "grade" thing. The resale value of a diamond is less than half of retail, so it's not like it will be an investment. You can put two diamonds side by side, and one costs twice as much. Yet neither you nor I nor anyone else without special equipment could tell the difference. I don't know why you would want to buy the more expensive one.

Then they give out appraisals to "prove" the $5000 diamond you buy is really worth $8000 (for example). If those certificates meant anything, the guy who sells the diamonds would guarantee to buy the diamond back for the "appraised" value. Funny, they won't do that. They won't even buy it back for what you paid, unless you agree to trade it in on a bigger one. So how is it worth $8000 (or even the $5000 you paid) if no one will pay that much?

Just don't think you're making any kind of investment by buying a diamond.

 

[richardycc]

all the guys on here saying you are an idiot for spending that much on a carbon must be either still single or don't have a serious SO yet. If you found the right one, you just can't help but want to spend the money on her. I paid 2x of my orginal budget for the ring, was it worth it? you bet!

/me puts on his flame jacket.

 

[kranky]

Not knowing what your original budget was compared to your income, who knows if it was a good idea or not. If you spent 4 months salary instead of 2, that's one thing. If you spent the equivalent of two weeks income instead of one week, different story.

 

[bunker]

I spent about 1 month's salary on my wife's ring(s). (diamonds in wedding band)

GIA Grade:

Cut: 2
Color: D
Clarity: SI 1

AGS Grade:

Cut: 3
Color: 0
Clarity: 5

I sacrificed on the clarity and I'll be damned if anyone can see any imperfections unless they get it under a microscope.
I also bought a marquise shaped diamond so it looks bigger than .6 carats.

 

[NogginBoink]

I recommend http://www.goodoldgold.com as a good place to do research.

 

[FrustratedUser]

I'd never ever spend 2 months salary on a ring. Who says that is the norm? They?

 

[bozack]

I don't know how big or how good of a ring/stone you are looking for but I got my fiancee a pretty nice three stone ring on a platinum band from her family jeweler in Manhattan, the center stone is like .71 and the two sides are .35...paid just under $6K for it and that was half of what tiffany's was asking and this was a larger ring....If you do want to go by the two months thing then make sure you do it 1. after taxes and 2. go by the appraised value of the ring, not the purchase price....generally they appraise them much higher than you pay for them which means you spend less but you are really spending what they say you "should" not that it matters. The only thing I really recommend is that unless she specifically wants yellow gold try and go for a platinum setting, they will last forever (gold usually has to be redone at some point in time) and it is one of the only things on the ring that is actually rare and might be worth something substantial in the future (word has it silver might be going up in value as well but not too many silver rings)

My fiancee likes the ring and that is what matters to me...it isn't big, it wasn't too expensive for me (actually cheaper than I was hoping for so I got her a nice watch as well)...

best advice I can give you is take her out and see what she likes, heck she might not even like a diamond...get an idea of what she enjoys and then set a budget that is comfortable for you, once you have those two things dealt with finding what you want is easy.

with the econ in the dumper more places are willing to deal...good luck