Diamonds, the Worst Investment You'll Ever Make

I've never been a fan of jewelry, especially diamond jewelry, and I'm not quiet about it either. My wife can attest to that. The idea that a diamond is so expensive and worth so much seems crazy to me. I mean, its a rock. It's a shiny, clear, cut rock. As a consumer I know nothing about them either. I care not if they are flawless, and neither does my wife. The only thing she cares about is that its big, it shines, and that it's in a setting that makes it look pretty or stand out from the rest.

So today I spent some time with my wife at the mall looking at diamond jewelry. I had no idea that we would even be looking at rings at all today, but there we were. And after spending an hour at one jewelry store we decided to take a walk and talk about it. We ended up looking a two other stores and found that one of them were selling a selection of their rings at 60 - 90% off. We ended up looking at some of the expensive ones that were 80% off. The deal was so good that we ended up buying, not one, but two rings. Each have 1 karat of diamonds and set in 14 karat gold.

Admittedly we know nothing of quality for diamond jewelry. Honesty, it really boils down to the purchaser liking it... that's really all that any normal consumer knows. It's big, shiny, and pretty. You can provide a grade card with it or even break out a microscope. We, like most consumers, have no idea what we're looking at. And, if you have to break out a microscope in order to tell if it's a quality stone, then why do I care? No one we meet on the street will know the difference.

So here we are with two rings for nearly the price of the first one we decided we liked at the first store. And with this we have 2 karats of diamonds instead of 1/2 a karat. Awesome right... makes the man (me) feel like he's getting a deal and the woman has increased her self worth and her friends envy. Great, job well done.

Now, me being me... I have to go and do a little research on diamonds. I come to find out that jewelry diamonds are almost never flawless, even when you think that they are flawless the setting that they're put in is hiding the flaw so you can's see it. Not really a big surprise here, to be honest, I would expect as much. Also, I read that a diamond is worse than a new car being driven off the lot. Taking a ring out of the store decreases its value by more than half. Try to sell your ring for what you bought it for... it's not an investment by any means. Finally, I found out that diamonds are controlled by one company, De Beers. And the markup on these things is 100 - 200%. And I actually expect that its much more than that. That markup makes me feel like my 80% savings isn't really all that much of a savings. However, when you compare that to someone paying full retail... well, sucks to be them.

De Beers has made a nearly worthless rock into a pile of cash. Good for them! And they have pulled the wool over our eyes and made it a tradition to buy a ring to get married. They have convinced us that we need to spend not one months salary, but two on the purchase. And they control the majority supply of these diamonds to the world. These guys are brilliant! My only regret is that I didn't think of it first.

I hope that you've enjoyed the lump of metal and rock you spent so much of your cash on... I know I'm really enjoying mine. Oh, and don't lose it or you'll be buying another.