How Much Should an Engagement Ring Cost?

Valentine's Day has come and gone and you were considering proposing, but when you went to the store to look at engagement rings, you were stunned by the price. Right?

Many, many years ago I was out Black Friday shopping and fell in love with a ring. I showed it to my husband (we were just friends at the time) and told him that if I ever were to get engaged, that ring would be my dream. My husband never forgot about the ring or the store where I'd seen it. Five years after I casually mentioned it to him, he went to the same store to buy it and to ask for my hand in marriage. He told me after the fact that when he saw how expensive it was, he felt like someone punched him in the stomach.

American Express surveyed men and women about how much that diamond ring should cost and according to the survey, women think the ring should cost at least $2,700, while guys think the average engagement ring should only set them back about $1,900. This is around what the cost of my ring was.

Not to scare you, or anything, but according to a 2014 survey from The Knot, the average engagement ring costs about 6 grand.

While he felt as though he'd been punched in the stomach when he saw the price of my dream ring, I'm guessing Jay is exceptionally happy that my ring wasn't even close in price to the $6,000 average and was instead much closer to the $1,900 figure and well within his budget.