A budget that actually works

The two-months-salary figure was an advertising line written in the 1930s and revised upward in the 1980s. It has no basis in anything except marketing.

A more useful approach: decide the number you are comfortable with first, tell your jeweller, and let them optimise inside it. A good jeweller will get you further with a stated budget than with a guessing game.

If the number is tight, spend it on cut and setting quality rather than carat weight. A well-cut 0.90 ct in a finely made head outperforms a mediocre 1.25 ct at every distance a ring is actually seen from.