Two months’ salary? Three months’ salary? You’re beginning the engagement ring process and have no idea how much money you should allocate for the ring. You want her to feel proud wearing her engagement ring but you’re also hesitant about spending a small fortune on a piece of jewelry. So how much money should you spend on an engagement ring? You may have heard about certain rules dictating that you should spend two to three months’ salary on an engagement ring but the answer is it all really depends on how much money you’re comfortable with spending. Here are some important things to keep in mind when determining how much money you should allocate towards an engagement ring.

• Your financial situation. If you have money already saved up for an engagement ring, perfect! If you don’t, the good news is that you can still select a really nice engagement ring. Paying with a credit card allows you to make monthly payments in a manner that’s most comfortable for you. But you probably shouldn’t select a ring that will take you several years to pay off. Figure out all of your current monthly expenses (rent, food, bills, etc.) and then add in the cost of the monthly payments you expect to make for the ring. If it’s much more than you can afford, you should probably select a less expensive ring.
• Your soon-to-be fiancé’s expectations. Does she want an extravagant engagement ring with a large center diamond and a lot of smaller accent diamonds or does she prefer a simpler ring with an alternative gemstone? If you know what style engagement ring she likes the most, you’ll have a pretty good idea of how much that ring will cost, after doing a little research.

So what happens when you set your budget for the engagement ring, but find out the ring you want to propose with is just too unattainable? We suggest working with a reputable local jeweler that will be able to find or create the best ring possible for you given your budget. If you’re looking for some general guidelines on how to save money on an engagement ring, here’s what we suggest:

• Consider selecting a solitaire setting. Avoiding having to pay for the added cost of small accent diamonds and the cost of labor to set all of those accent diamonds will save you some money both in the long and short term.
• Avoid shopping for an engagement ring during peak buying times like Christmas and Valentine’s Day, when a lot of couples are looking to get engaged. Because of their high demand during these times, diamonds are generally more expensive and less readily available than they are at other times during the year.
• Consider selecting an alternative gemstone. Diamonds are the most expensive gemstone for a reason, but that doesn’t mean you have to feature a diamond in your engagement ring. If you’re looking for a little color, both sapphires and rubies make excellent choices for an engagement ring. And if you’re thinking about selecting another colorless gem instead of a diamond, consider one of these three diamond alternatives.
• Avoid purchasing brand name engagement rings. A lot of time and effort goes into creating a brand and unfortunately those costs get passed down to the purchaser, who ends up paying a premium for that brand name engagement ring.
• Shop at a reputable fine jewelry store that has a lot of resources available to find you the best deal possible.

If you’re interested in seeing what kind of engagement ring you can afford given your budget, call Kloiber Jewelers at 414-276-2457 or email us at info@kloiberjewelers.com.