I would like to take the opposite view and say that in my opinion you can grow hops without spending much money at all. Just like brewing beer, or any other hobby, you can get amazing results on a very low budget system, or you can spend thousands of dollars on an expensive system. You can still get great beer either way.
I have hops growing in all different parts of my yard. Mostly on my garden fence and along a trellis that my wife wanted. I tried having them grow up tall poles, and they grew just fine, but I'm lazy and got tired of the hassle of getting the poles down at the end of the summer. All my plants are between six and three years old. I planted the rhizomes, watered them like any normal garden plant, and that was that. I now have so many hops at the end of the summer, I can barely make enough beer to use them all. I can't remember the last time I had to buy hops.
They are, in general, very easy to grow and maintain. I have found that here in the USA, it's easier to grow native hops. The British and German varieties I have tried to grow just don't seem to like the climate here in the north east.
Also, make sure you grow varieties that you know you will want to use over and over, because to paraphrase something Denny once said, the problem with hops is not trying to make them grow, the problem is trying to keep them from taking over every square inch of your yard after a few years.