I inherited my first handgun from my father, a nice little .22 Saturday Night Special. The next one I bought for myself was a .38 S&W Bodyguard for around $300. I love that gun. It's so easy to carry. The next one I want is going to cost me, a S&W Governor.
I say buy as much gun as you can afford as long as it fits your need.
First gun I bought was some cheap used .25 Auto when I was 16 or 17 (1979 or 1980). I bought if for like $40 and sold it for the same. The next hand gun I owned was a gift from my girlfriend at the time (1981) and she gave me a S&W Mod 15-4 .38 Special (she bought it from a friend of her father for $50 + that included like 2 or 3 boxes of shells). The first hand gun that I bought new, was in 1991 or 1992 when I bought a Ruger 22/45 with a stainless barrel. I still have the .38 special and the Ruger 22/45 and love shooting them. I still have the girl that gave me the .38 special also. We've been married 28 years!!!
A colt series 70 gold cup, bought it at the Bullet Hole gun shop in southport IN back in the early 70's for $230, I was around 12-13 years old. Had a paper route and would put guns on layaway and make weekly payments on them, when I had them paid off my mom would go down with me and do the paperwork, the good old days.