Every guy wants to amaze his future wife with a ring she can show off to all of her friends. Guys need to be aware of the best ways to go about buying an engagement ring because they are expensive and the process can be intimidating.
Step 1: Understand Your Budget
First things first, you need to know what you can spend. Before you head out ring shopping, have a look at your savings and your future budget and figure out what you can spend. Seems easy, but we see all to often that people over-spend and put themselves in tough financial positions.
Research and Undercover Work
This is an important step. Most guys think they know their girlfriend and her taste. That may be true but when it comes to diamonds and engagement rings, you better make sure to consult her friends and good the scoop on her dream engagement ring. Don’t think her friends know what kind of ring she wants, think again, she has been telling them about it for years. Save yourself the aggravation and ask her friends, they’re just as excited as she is so they can’t wait to help.
Create a Plan of Attack
Based on all the information you have so far, start creating your plan for buying the ring. You need to decide on the stone you want, brush up on the 4Cs of diamonds and get educated. As a primer, the 4Cs are Carat: Carat is the standard unit of measurement of the weight of a diamond), Cut: Cut determines a diamonds fire and brilliance. Clarity: The clarity of the diamond deals with how many imperfections can be seen in a diamond. Color: The color is graded from D (colorless) to Z (yellow).
The other important part of creating a plan is understanding the buying process. Apart from knowing all the jargon really well you should potentially take somebody with you too. Dealers can try to talk into buying something that is not worth the price so having a friend with you as a voice of reason is helpful.
Shop around. You have read up on the jargon, you know what you’re looking for. Now the fun part is checking out a few places and seeing things in person. Even if you decide to buy online, go look at the type of diamond you want to buy in a store to make sure it lives up to your expectations.
Make the Purchase
After you have the diamond you like and the store you would like to buy from, email the store and ask for the GIA certificate. If you are satisfied with that, you can go ahead and buy the diamond. After you buy the diamond, take it to an independent appraiser and do another appraisal to make sure the diamond you bought matches the GIA certificate. If your diamond doesn’t have the GIA number inscribed, you might want to make an appointment at the nearest GIA and get it inscribed. If you lose the diamond in the future and someone tries to sell it, this number ties this diamond to you and you can get it back easier than otherwise.
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