Posted by on February 7, 2014
Valentine’s Day will be here shortly and with it many happy new brides-to-be. If you are planning on proposing to your beloved and have gone shopping for a ring, you will want to protect your investment even before you pop the question.
As soon as you’ve purchased a ring get a written appraisal. This can come from the store at which you purchased the ring or from another jeweler. Use this appraisal to insure the ring by adding it to your homeowners or renters insurance policy. Your policy will have only limited coverage for jewelry – typically around $1,000 – so if the ring cost more than that you’ll have to add the ring on a separate rider to the policy. This gives you complete coverage should you lose it or have it stolen. Several years back there was a local news story about a man who proposed to his girlfriend out on a jetty, and dropped the ring! They never found it but fortunately he had had it insured. Smart guy!
Insuring the ring should not be expensive, as riders typically cost $5 to $15 per $1000 of coverage, and it is well worth the risk of having to replace the item yourself.
Once you propose and the ring shifts to your fiance’s finger, make sure to have her add the ring to her insurance policy, at which time you can drop it from yours.
