I am a newbie to the hobby

I need some advise on
what to get for a transceiver and not spend a fortune.

am I in the right place to ask this question

Hi Gary, The best place to find out all this stuff would be the ARRL web site.
They have a lot of advice on how to get started.
My 2 cents, an excellent, used solid state HF Xcvr can be had for $300-$350.
Check Ham adds, EBAY, Hamfests ect. Tube rigs are even less, but they have
problems that a newbie would not know how to deal with. (drift, tube failure,
caps dry out ect.). A new low end solid state rig will run you $600-$800.
These do offer excellent performance compared to older rigs.
Once you have a rig, you will need a power supply and antenna. A good 12 VDC
@ 20 amps power supply is available now for less than $100. Once you have the
rig and PS, you will need an antenna.
The antenna system can run from nothing to thousands, depends on what you wish
to do with your ham ticket. Good luck.
73 Gary N4AST