Should you really spend 3 months' salary on an engagement ring?

Even though society tells you that the rule of thumb is to spend your 3 months' salary on a special ring, remember: It started as a marketing tactic to increase sales during the Great Depression. It's not a rule. If you are on a tight budget, you don't need to push your financial limits since there are so many options available for us in 2022. But if you are financially comfortable spending it, spend whatever you like to. You can even spend a year's salary and no one would care except you and the person you are giving the ring to.

Before anyone even starts a debate, let me take a moment and acknowledge that yes, most girls consider their status to be engaged only once they have got a ring. The ring is a piece of physical in-your-face evidence that:

• you are committed to a special man and
• he loves you a lot.

Yes, most girls want that dream ring, that dream proposal, and want everyone to gasp when they see their ring and want to talk all about it to their girlfriends and want that dream wedding blah blah blah. You get what I am saying right. Yes, so all this is wanted. And it's not our fault because society has done such a fabulous job of conditioning our brains (and that of previous generations) that a diamond ring is the only indication that you are committed for life and your man wants you (and everyone else) to know how special you are. Remember how Jim from The Office got Pam a ring after their first date? 

NOW, DO YOU NEED TO SPEND YOUR 3 MONTHS' SALARY ON IT?

I don't think so. 

An engagement ring is about love and commitment. It's great to get your partner something they love and something that would look gorgeous, but, you don't have to break your bank or lose your sanity to get a special ring. Even if you cannot get that scene from Two and a Half Men out of your head where Alan takes out Charlie shopping for an engagement ring and dishes out his rule of thumb. 

If we go by this rule, here are some examples of what this might look like:

• Annual Income: Rs 4,00,000- Cost of ring: Rs 100,000
• Annual Income: Rs 7,50,000- Cost of ring: Rs 187,500
• Annual Income: Rs 10,00,000- Cost of ring: Rs 250,000

UMM, HOW MUCH DOES AN ENGAGEMENT RING COST? 

I browsed through the website of PC Jewellers, and found something interesting:

1. You will see a difference in prices when you browse through the ring collection through different routes.
2. Route 1 (The General Route) : When you go to the homepage, select 'All Jewellery', then select 'Rings' and then 'Diamond'- there are more options for both men and women and also the price range is huge. This route shows about 1727 designs for women and 255 designs for men. The price for a women's ring is between Rs 3000 to Rs 426,000 whereas, for men, the price range for a ring is between Rs 6,000 to Rs 216,000
3. Route 2 ( I specifically want what PCJ call an Engagement ring): When you go to the homepage, select 'Rings' and then select 'Engagement', there are lesser options. This route shows about 682 designs for women and 290 designs for men. The price range for women's rings is between Rs 10,000 to Rs 335,000 while that for men is between Rs 22,000 to Rs 161,000. 

Do you see how the minimum price of a ring goes up and the number of options goes down when you tell the jeweler that you want an ''engagement ring''? My point is: In today's times, you have a lot of options - in variety, the cut, the color, and the price. There are also many kinds of jewelry stores - wholesale diamond ring manufacturers, your local jeweler, and retail jewelry stores where you can get a beautiful ring without breaking your bank. 

In fact, it is recommended that you take an experienced person with you when you go ring shopping. Even if getting a ring is a personal choice and will stay with you for most of your life, it is a financial choice. 

SO WHO STARTED THIS TREND IN THE FIRST PLACE? 

During the Roman empire, wives would wear rings with little keys indicating that their husbands kinda owned them. In 1477, Archduke Maximillian of Australia started this trend of giving a diamond ring to his bride at their wedding among the higher classes. In 1866, when diamond mines were discovered in South Africa, a rise in the supply of diamonds and a fall in the prices made diamonds affordable to the middle class.  

But in 1938, De Beers, a diamond cartel, launched a marketing campaign that claimed that the only way a man can prove that he will love a woman forever will be when he gives her a diamond ring that is worth his 1 month's salary.

Later on, after De Beers had a monopoly in the diamond market, they artificially reduced the supply, raised the diamond prices, and changed the message from one month's salary to two months. The tactic behind the ads was to enforce this idea on both individuals:  

1. The man had to associate a diamond with romance 
2. The woman had to think that courtship always concluded with a diamond  
3. Both should associate the amount of money a man was willing to spend with the worth of their relationship. Also, the purity, sparkle, and depth of marriage should reflect the diamond to equate marriage = diamond = forever.

But since we are in 2022, is the cost of a ring directly proportional to a successful marriage?