<prompt> Human: I am coming to a cross roads in my life and would love some of PFs insight you guys rock!. To set the stage, Im a 27 year old male thats been working in NYC for 2.75 years out of grad school. Im a software dev with a total comp of 103k atm, which will probably get bumped up 3-5 next paycheck. I have 27k in my 401k, 32k in savings, and no other investments. No debts at all.My cross roads is that Ive decided I want to purchase a ring for a lucky lady! I brought this up a little while back to get a bearing on her expectations and she said that she thinks its a waste of money, but our culture has made her care about it and she wishes she didnt. I would say that I feel similarly; I think it is a romantic one-time gesture that can be fun to show others and cherish for a lifetime, yet it can also be a big financial setback. I think diminishing returns rapidly comes into play and my best guess is that I want to spend about 2-3k on a used ring of lower quality under a lense. I think that would be the most bang-the-buck. Thoughts?On top of that, we will most likely be moving in together. For my investments, Im only matching employer contributions for the 401k at 6 because I expected to purchase rental property out of state. That idea fell through and I lost out on last years market gains... The regret is real! Anyway, Im kind of thinking we should start out with renting for a year, which wouldnt change much from our current status financially speaking. Im thinking I want to keep saving cash for some property in the future though. Does anyone think thats foolish to forgo a maxed 401k and IRA? Im saving about 1.5k-2k per month at the moment, so there is a good amount of wiggle room to invest. I know this goes against the flow chart, but property requires a lot, especially near NYC!My final bit is about general preparations for marriage. Are there any crucial lessons learned by anyone? We have discussed money, in terms of saving and avoiding debt she has none. We both have similar views, but I might want to focus a little more on early retirement than she does.Thanks in advance!  <response>: There are a lot of questions here, I honestly dont even know where to start. Is this about marriage? Is this about your retirement plan? Is this about housing? Is this about a ring? Im very confused. 