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THE HERALD, Sharon, Pa., September 27, 2011; ALLIED NEWS, Grove City, Pa., September 28, 2011
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By Tim Grant
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Men wondering how much
to pay for the engagement
ring may recall the clever
marketing campaign created
decades ago by the DeBeers
diamond company, which
suggested that a groom
should spend at least three
months’ worth of his annual
salary.
But how valid is that age-
old standard in a modern
world, especially as many
people are still suffering from
a sluggish economy?
“In this economy, I’m wait-
ing to see if the jewelry ads
update the standard to three
months’ worth of unemploy-
ment benefits,” said Richard
Barrington, a personal-finance
expert for MoneyRates.com.
At a time when the unem-
ployment rate is close to dou-
ble digits and the household
savings rate is in single digits,
not everyone will feel comfort-
able spending 25 percent of
their annual income on a ring.
However, as Calla Gold of
Calla Gold Jewelers in Santa
Barbara, Calif., puts it, one of
the most important factors
that goes into an engage-
ment-ring purchase is the
man’s economic status.
“If he is a lawyer or banker
or someone in the white-col-
lar world who makes a good
living, if he buys a half-carat
diamond for his fiancee, it sig-
nals that he is a cheap per-
son,” she said. “The engage-
ment ring is a symbol to the
rest of the world not only that
you love the woman, but also
that the man is economically
successful.”
Sadly, at times when mar-
riage plans fail to materialize,
the engagement ring be-
comes the subject of a legal
dispute between the person
who bought the ring and the
one who wears it.
The engagement ring is
considered a conditional gift
that is tied to the promise of a
wedding, and courts have of-
ten ruled in favor of the man
receiving the ring back if
wedding plans are canceled.
In some cases, men have
been forced to relinquish
ownership if they either
called off the wedding or
caused the wedding not to
take place.
Also, if the engagement
ring is presented to a fiancee
on a special occasion such as
Christmas, Valentine’s Day or
her birthday, it could legally
be interpreted as a gift that
need not be returned if the
engagement is broken.
While a tremendous
amount of money is spent on
marketing diamond engage-
ment rings, reality can very
often be quite different.
Although Tara Rose said
the average customer at her
Miami jewelry shop, Ring Fin-
ger Studio, spends between
$7,500 and $15,000 on an en-
gagement ring, she said buy-
ers could often get more
bang for their buck buying a
half-carat center diamond cir-
cled with tiny diamonds,
which makes the small dia-
mond appear bigger.
“An engagement ring
should be a sizable purchase,
but you must be reasonable
about it,” Rose said. “Couples
should take into consideration
other financial goals they
have, such as buying a house
or replacing a car on its last
leg.”
John Baird, communica-
tions director for Blue Nile,
one of the largest online re-
tailers of diamonds and fine
jewelry, said the average dia-
mond engagement ring is
roughly 0.6 or 0.7 carat. The
Spend within your means on ring
See
RING,
page T-6
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