According to comparejewellery.com, men are willing to spend more on the ring for their second marriage than their first. We talk to Ali O’Neill, head of product at comparejewellery.com about the reasons for this.
Weddings on Female First
Why would a man spend more on the second engagement ring?
When it comes to men spending more money on a second engagement ring, it is sometimes down to that old saying “with age comes wisdom”. This was certainly the case in our findings, which revealed that 48% of men who spent more on the second ring admitting that they ‘had more faith in the security of their second marriage’.
As well as this, just over a third of the men polled claimed the more expensive cost of the second ring was simply as a result of them being much wealthier by that point in their life, whilst 17% of the men confessed that they hadn’t initially intended to spend more, but it turned out their second wives had more expensive tastes than their first!
How popular is it now to share the cost of an engagement ring?
Whilst it may seem the tradition for men to spend a month’s salary on an engagement ring, our findings highlighted that 7% of couples shared the cost. In today’s society in is uncommon for a woman to earn a substantially larger salary than her partner, hence the reason why some may feel in order to purchase their dream ring they must foot a percentage of the bill themselves. Who knows, perhaps in years to come it will be the norm for women to buy their male fiancé’s engagement rather than the other way round.
Why is there more faith placed in a second marriage?
You live and learn, and by the time people are ready to enter into their second marriage, individuals are much more aware of what to expect upon entering into the union, as well as the things that can go wrong, both financially and emotionally. I would therefore say that more faith is placed in a second marriage as people will make sure of the commitment they are about to make.
Why often are couples wealthier in their second marriage?
Due to the simple fact that they are older, 34% of men we asked spent more on a second engagement ring as a result of increased wealth. Either people have accumulated more savings or inheritance from family, or their income will most probably be a lot more than when they first got married.
There is much less effort put into choosing second ring so why is this?
Less effort is placed on the second ring purchase as perhaps the novelty and excitement of the impending marriage is not as prevalent as it perhaps had been during a first engagement. In our findings we found that 49% of men had either asked their partner for guidance when choosing the ring, or had asked their partner to choose their own. In contrast, just 30% of men had claimed to do this during their first engagement.
Men feel that it is acceptable to give the ring from the first marriage to their second wife, why is this?
Well it is a little rude isn’t it?! I think perhaps some men, 8% in our poll, have done this without first taking into account the hurt and offence this could perhaps cause their partner. I do think that are a few circumstances where this is acceptable, most notably if the ring has priceless value (family heirloom). Otherwise though, I would strongly suggest that for a second engagement, or any engagement in fact, customers visit our website in order to make the most of their money!
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