Because I am cheap, I don't think I would buy anything. All that is available to a newbie free of charge from sponsors, etc.

But, if I had say $500 to buy something with as a newbie, I would buy a few cheap sets of content, a starter hosting account, and just test out the waters with different sponsors. At worst, I'd say he/she would probably lose only a couple of hundred dollars but most likely could break even without a problem.