Engagement rings are sold as a classic and the only way to propose to someone special. Said rings can go for up to $8.8 million dollars (Richard Burton’s ring to Elizabeth Taylor) which could also buy 22 Lamborghini Aventadors (with a $397,500 MSRP). With that money, one can also buy 275,085 flu shots (when at $31.99). But is all of this money really necessary to buy a ring that will last a lifetime?

The answer, plain and simple, is no. In fact, the engagement ring wasn’t really a cultural tradition until the 1930’s when De Beers Diamond Corporation, a diamond mining, trading, and shopping company proclaimed that you could not propose without one of their rings through the N. W. Ayer & Son advertising agency. In hindsight, this must be one of the best marketing plans in history. The ring has become a part of our culture, something used to dictated availability and income.

Before the advertising campaign for the rings began, engagement rings were considered a dying fad. The price of diamonds in 1938 was falling and De Beers needed help. They went to N. W. Ayer & Son for advertising and came away with a market hooked on diamonds as a tangible form of love. An added kick was the phrase “diamonds are forever” coined in 1947, going into full swing for the romantic side of the spending public.

According to the Washington Diamond online consultation, a princess-cut, .5 caret, clear, with good proportions, and GIA certified diamond, by itself, would cost $1,920. Not counting the setting, that is a pretty hefty sum of money, sometimes what people make in a week. But it is worth some resell value, right?

Unfortunately, no. A diamond’s resale value is virtually nothing. The ring is discounted by approximately how much it will be worth in the next few years. Buying a diamond can also mean a 100% to 200% markup in order for the sellers to make a stable profit. The companies who would buy the ring would make a profit so low, it would not be worth the price in the long run.

If you really want a ring, go for it, but I advise to stay away from the diamonds. As Don Draper of Mad Men said, “What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons.”