In the 1980s, De Beers introduced the "two months' salary" guideline. It wasn't a law, a tradition, or a piece of relationship advice. It was a number invented to reset spending expectations upward.
It worked. The guideline was picked up by magazines, repeated in conversations, absorbed into culture. By the 1990s, many people believed it had always been the expectation - that there was something socially or morally loaded about spending less.
You are not obligated to follow a number invented by a mining company's marketing department. For the full history of that campaign, read how it started.
What you are trying to do - presumably - is give someone something that reflects how you feel about them, and that they'll wear for decades and associate with that feeling. The question worth asking isn't "am I hitting the salary guideline?" It's "what do I want this to mean?"
For some people, the answer involves a significant stone. There's nothing wrong with that. Spending on something permanent, meaningful, and beautiful is one of the more defensible uses of money. Browse our Ring Builder designs and you'll find options at different budgets - each one chosen on cut quality, not just carat weight.
For others, the same amount that would cover a large diamond would also cover a long weekend in Paris, an experience that can't be worn but also can't be forgotten. Some couples find meaning in that - in the deliberate choice to prioritise an experience over an object.
Neither answer is correct. But it should be your answer, not one inherited without questioning from an advertising campaign.
