In my opinion, drop as much as you possibly can on a helmet and a back protector. The rest of your body will heal if you crash, the grey matter in your spine and brain, does not. Buy a shitty pair of gloves, who cares. Buy a shitty helmet and you'll wind up dead or a vegetable. How about the price of wheel chairs? Back protectors are cheaper, you know that, right? To give you an idea, I spent $550 on my helmet, and another $160 on a back protector. That landed me two of the highest rated pieces of safety gear and in my opinion it's money well spent.
Tips for getting other gear: kevlar stitching and panel reinforcement is nice in gloves, jackets, and pants. It's yellow, can't miss it. It'll look like yellow thread on the glove, and yellow fabric panels on the inside if it's reinforced. Kevlar is amazing in slides. Try to get a lid that also has it.
Get internally stitched panels (leather or textile, doesn't matter) internal stitching allows for you to slide on a panel without wearing through the stitching before the panel does. If it's externally stitched it's just going to fly apart as soon as you start sliding because you're sliding on exposed seams of thread. That doesn't last very long (few meters).
Fit fit fit fit. You have to be comfortable otherwise you will be distracted while riding.
Jacket sleeves should end at your wrist bone IN THE RIDING POSITION. Sport jacket hems (the base of the jacket), should end between your belt and belly button UNLESS you are buying a touring jacket. This is to prevent an excess of material bunching up at your waist while riding, increasing your comfort level.
If you're going leather, make sure you buy it snug because it will relax and fill out. Don't go too snug or you won't get a hoody and a back protector underneath it.
If you're buying textile do the opposite, size it to fit right out of the box because it will never change shape.
When buying gloves, check the span of leather/textile between your index finger and your thumb. Too little material here restricts your ability to reach your levers. Buy gloves snug, they stretch some of the most out of all types of gear. Make sure that when they are snug you can reach your levers easily. Sit on a bike, put pressure on your hands as if you were riding (it makes your hands expand), then check if you can get to the levers easily.
Pants that have armour will seem like the armour is misplaced while you are standing up. This is because your leg length actually increases when you get into the riding position, so the armour will sit low while you are standing up, and will come up your leg once you get on the bike. Unless you buy piece of shit pants, the armour can be adjusted further. If your inseam is normally 31 inches, add 2 or 3 inches for riding pants.
Boots should be as armoured as you can take without becoming a total race boot, you won't need that on the street. Plus the time to get in and out of them means you will never use them. Buy an armoured street boot. Sidi Vertigo, Dainese Torque Pro/Pannier/Race, etc. Your toes should be near the end, they will not expand like a shoe, but rather mould and reshape from heat and moisture. Your heel should be snug, but not rubbing excessively. Your heal should not lift too much when you step. it should be low profile so you can reach the shift ever easily. Always fit the left boot rather than the right. Sometimes there is variance in feet and hands, always fit your left boot better than your right. All you do with your right is stomp occasionally on a brake lever, don't need a good fit for that. Shifting however you do that constantly and need to get it right.
That's about it off the top of my head. If you have more questions, ask away.
