Engagement ring money advice, please!

morocha

the price of the engagment ring does not matter... what matters is who is giving it to you.
My DH proposed to me and he didnt have a ring... it was lovely how he planned it, the place and everything, i cried it was emotional, then we headed to town and he bought me a ring, it cost less than £50 ( i chose it) !! BUT i adore my ring, i dont know how your GF is, but many women dont not care about having a mega expensive ring, it is what it means what really matter.

and, no, i am not a diamond girl, i way prefer going away as cheaply as possible... i love going to Malaga each year to celebrate our anniversary.

ViolaLass

drew2k9, if it's 0% over three years, why would you pay it off early?

freeasabird

picklepick wrote: »

from a womans point of view, i would kick your !!! if i knew you'd borrowed that much for a ring. my ring cost £550. its gold and has a lovely sparkly diamond., its what it represents thats important not how much it cost. plus, id be terrified of wearing a 5k piece of jewellery in case i lost it. mental!

some people on the wedding forum are spending that much on their entire wedding, including the rings.

just start saving now. dont start the next chapter of your life on the wrong foot!!

I totally agree. You're girlfriend should be more impressed by the efforts that you're making to become debt-free rather than a costly ring.


You can buy a really nice ring for a fraction of the cost and surely it's the sentimental value rather than the monetary value that is important.

drew2k9

ViolaLass wrote: »

drew2k9, if it's 0% over three years, why would you pay it off early?

i know i dont have to, but i just like the idea of owning it earlier than in 3 years time if that makes sense, i will obviously be paying the 45 each month, and for example, if i find one month i have a few extra quid, i will use it to pay that off, rather than spend it on extra fast food... which i definately do not need!

it is a great deal though dont you think. also i think if i pay extra off i can reduce the monthly payments and still pay it over 3 years, like if i gave them an extra 180, i would only be paying £40 a month, £5 back in my pocket each month, and in my economic car thats about 100miles worth of diesel! gotta look at things in perspective.:D

ViolaLass

Why not put the money in a savings account, rather than pay it early? It's not so much about making extra payments when you don't have to, but rather that it doesn't make financial sense.

Frozenace

You could have 2 great holidays and a ring for 5 grand.

Where else would Jewellers make their money from?

AnnaBeth

Hi,
I spent not much more on whole wedding than 5k.
Unless your really wealthy that seems mad to spend that amount on only the first part of wedding costs which quickly spiral you don't have to go super cheap but I would have thought you need to save up and spend what you have on something affordable, I wouldn't want to wear a ring that expensive it would worry me!

Good luck with the proposal and wedding, it's worth it.

whysitallsocomplicated

hi
you know your proposed wife better than anyone on here (I hope!). So ask yourself, will it mean more to her and will it influence her decision on to accept or not your proposal based on the value of the ring you are offering? i hope not, she will decide to marry you because she loves you- not becuase you got in to debt to buy an expensive ring. People are right, weddings cost a lot of money. She will be more keen on how you are going to save the money for the day she has dreamt off when you get married than knowing you have taken on debt.

When I proposed I booked a long weekend in paris as a surprise. It was a bargain as Euro star were doing a two for one offer and cheap hotel deals. I believe they are still doing them. My future wife was so excited when she realised we were going it was great. As soon as we had booked into the hotel we headed for the Eifel (I know thats spelt wrong!) tower and went up to the top viewing deck just as the sun was going down. I went down on one Knee and proposed offering her the ring I had brought as a "standby" for £50.00. It all worked a treat, proposal accepted etcetera. (bit embarrasing when the other people around us started clapping!!). I explained that the ring was just for the momment and that we could go to some shops in paris and pick out the one she really wanted. we did this and the one she picked cost me about £480.00.

The moral here is that when I said we could go and get a proper ring no mention was made of how much we could spend. My wife to be looked at many rings and some of them were a lot (and I mean a lot!) more but she chose the one she wanted. I asked why she didnt go for one of the other more expensive ones and she replied that yes some of them were lovely and it was great trying them on and dreaming for a while. BUT only someone who was really rich or really stupid would spend so much on a ring just because it was expensive and that she chose the one she LIKED the most.

so all in all the romantic trip away and two rings came to less than a grand and the wife was more happy than if i had spent a grand on a ring she may not have liked and we had stayed at home.

Hope the above helps you decide the best thing to do.

sharpy2010

Congratulations on getting to the point of finding someone you want to get engaged to!

Well done on clearing/wanting to clear all your debts.

£5000 is a LOT of money, so whilst it would be a nice ring you'd get with that, you do have to ask - Is it practical, feasible, and sensible. I'd have to say no, but then of course thats your decision and not mine. With that in mind, I'd suggest the following -:

Speak to your bank regarding borrowing the money. They are in the position to see your day to day finances the best, and are most likely to lend you the money out of all the lenders out there. Also, if they ask what the money is for, then home improvements is the answer you want to give, as for some reason that gives extra credence to them lending you the cash.

Good luck!

P.s., to all those people saying "it shouldn't matter to her if she gets an expensive ring or not...", the OP has never said that it does matter. He is suggesting that HE would like to give her a nice ring, not that she has asked for one...

Just something to keep in mind :-)

drew2k9

yeah its about not getting into debt, techincally i feel as if i am in debt with mine, thats another reason why i would like to pay it off early, but i know at the moment there are other things which do have interest that i need to pay off eg my credit card (its a massive £100 credit limit, but still, interest is interest!) and my normal outgoings eg car payments and insurance for my car and motorbike.

OP, i would suggest you not get into any debt to buy a ring, try to find a deal like the one i got, from a jewellers whos name begins with gold, and ends in smiths...

or save like everyone else suggested!

and i think i will actually do the same, im selling my motorbike to go towards my planned honeymoon and to save each month on extra insurance payments, which will go towards the honeymoon/wedding too. remember the ring is the start, it shouldnt cost the same as a full wedding day and honeymoon combined!