What will your budget actually buy?
The same money buys wildly different stones depending on what you prioritise. Enter a figure and see all four options side by side — including what each one would fetch if you ever sold it.
Your budget
Figures are for the loose stone at retail. A setting typically adds $400–2,000 on top, and the two or three months salary line was an advertising slogan, not a rule.
Four ways to spend it
All drawn to true scale, so you can see the difference rather than read it.
Where the money actually goes
Above roughly G colour and VS2 clarity, almost nothing you are paying for is visible without a loupe. A D colour, VVS1 stone and a G colour, VS2 stone look identical on a hand, yet the first costs far more — which is why the same budget buys so much less of it.
Cut is the exception, and the one grade worth protecting. A poorly cut diamond leaks light and looks dull no matter how good its other grades are. If something has to give, give on colour and clarity long before cut.
Remember the resale column
Every option above shows what it would fetch secondhand as well as what it costs. That spread is not a criticism of buying jewellery — it is simply the number nobody tells you at the counter. Value a specific stone for a figure matched to its exact specification.