2 replies to this topic

[johnmwinn]

I know, two months salary. What does the average Joe spend? Let's say I make $100,000 a year, isn't $16,000 a lot to be wearing on a finger?

[niceice]

The two months salary "guideline" is a marketing concept created by DeBeers and the Diamond Promotion Service in an attempt to (1) get you to spend more money; and (2) an attempt to even the playing field in terms of what groups of friends who work at the same type of job and likely live in the same housing tract, etc. will be wearing in terms of jewelry when they all get together for a weekend barbeque. But the market and profit structures relied on by traditional brick and mortar jewelry stores were much different when this guideline was created than they are now... The internet didn't exist and most retail jewelers were working on a 300% mark-up! So we suppose that two months salary didn't go so far... But here on the internet that kind of money can go REAL far, so we recommend deciding what you're comfortable spending and then finding a reputable on-line dealer who can find you what you're looking for... Now keep in mind, your expectations have to be reasonable for the budget that you designate. Use the "price research" tool here on DR to get an idea of what things go for and visit a few of the web sites of the various vendors... We STRONGLY suggest buying your diamond from a vendor who actually stocks an inventory and physically inspects every diamond that they sell as opposed to the many internet vendors who merely list diamonds for sale and drop ship them to their customers without ever seeing them - it assures you that you are going to receive a diamond which meets your expectations because you will be able to see the clarity characteristics prior to receiving the diamond and that the diamond matches the characteristics described on the lab report and that those characteristics do not pose a durability risk to the stone assuming that the dealer is one who is likely to reject a stone if it has inclusions which put the stone at risk such as a prominent feather that is near or breaks the edge of the stone, a cavity, etc... Good luck!

Robin & Todd Gray
NiceIce.com

[diamondsman]

Well, 16,000, is not alot, to wear on the finger.
If you are concerned about size ,that's a different story,But if you were to spend that kind of money ,and get a good quality diamond ,I would thing that it's well worth the amount spent on.














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