Using a throwaway account because my main account has too many friends following and I really don’t know who to talk to about this. I just need some perspective from SG redditors before I completely lose my mind.
So my BF and I have been together for about 4 years. We’re already at the stage where we applied for BTO, got our queue number, and have been casually talking about getting married next year. Overall, he’s a decent, practical guy—works hard, saves money, doesn’t spend lavishly. I’ve always appreciated that he’s financially prudent, especially since we’re going to need a lot of cash for renovation and furniture soon.
Last weekend, he took me out for a nice dinner at Dempsey. It was a pleasant surprise because usually, our weekend dates are just hawker centers or neighborhood cafes. After dinner, we took a walk, and he got down on one knee. He gave this really heartfelt, emotional speech about how much he loves me, how he wants to build a life together, and how excited he is for our future house. I was honestly super touched and started crying.
Then he pulled out the ring box.
He opened it, and the ring looked quite shiny. It was a yellow gold ring with a small gem in the center. But when I leaned down to look closer, my eyes immediately caught something else in the box.
Sticking out from beneath the velvet cushion was a yellow string attached to a laminated paper price tag.
It was literally a Maxi-Cash pawnshop tag. It had the weight in grams, the serial number, and a hand-written price tag: $880 marked down to $650.
I was completely frozen. I was too stunned to even digest what was happening, so I just nodded, let him put the ring on my finger, and said yes. But the whole ride back in the car, I couldn’t stop staring at the yellow tag sitting in the box on my lap.
I don’t even mind if he bought a second-hand or pre-loved ring. In fact, I’ve told him before that I don’t need a huge 1-carat diamond from Tiffany’s or JannPaul, and that lab-grown or simple rings are fine. But to leave the actual pawnshop price ticket inside the box??? It felt like zero effort was put into presentation.
When we got back to his car, I tried to bring it up gently. I pointed at the box and asked, “Eh dear… you forgot to take off the price tag ah?”
He looked at me with this ridiculously proud smile and went: “Oh! Yeah, I kept it inside so you know it’s real 916 gold! I got a damn good deal at MoneyMax. Diamond rings are a total scam, zero resale value. This one got intrinsic gold value, and the auntie even gave me an extra 5% discount because I paid cash. Smart right?”
I didn’t even know how to respond. He was genuinely beaming like he had just won the Singapore Sweep.
Now I’m sitting at home staring at this ring with the Maxi-Cash receipt on my desk. Part of me feels like I’m being an ungrateful, entitled brat for caring about the price and the tag when he’s just being “financially savvy.” But another part of me feels like this goes beyond being practical—it feels like extreme cheapo behavior and a total lack of romantic effort. If he can’t even be bothered to snip off a pawnshop price tag for a once-in-a-lifetime proposal, what is our married life going to look like? Are we going to celebrate our 10th anniversary with ValueDollar chocolates?
Am I overreacting, or is this a huge red flag? How would you guys handle this?
TL;DR: BF proposed with a gold ring from Maxi-Cash, left the $650 price tag dangling inside the box, and bragged about getting a discount. Not sure if he’s just super practical or a massive red flag.