Turntable? Arm or cartridge?

The tonearm and cartridge should almost be thought of as a unit and from a sonic perspective they are more important than the drive. If you have to cut corners when purchasing it is best to save money on the cartridge as it is a wear item whereas a turntable can last a lifetime. You can also get surprising performance out of very inexpensive cartridges.

Stylus shape and cartridge construction more important than any decent table or arm IMO.

Understanding arm cartridge compliance compatibility and avoiding detrimental resonance is important, but more leeway than you think.

Setup, alignment, basic tools and personally acquired skills are the prelude,

Proper cleaning used, and occasionally new lp’s also important.

I prefer lighter tracking, wider separation, tighter channel balance. I only have heard my current and first MC, after resisting for many years, glad I tried MC.
.................................

Delicate signal thru/to what? Sounds of Phono Stages definitely vary, Tube/SS differences/preferences; perhaps this should be resolved prior to final cartridge evaluation, however MC requires purchase just to evaluate the phono stage or SUT to a new or existing phono stage.

Cables, I recommend last, you may hear differences, I have compared, and hear no difference.

It’s an interactive web of options

For non techie buyer, it is always safe to go for the whole package, rather than going for separates.
If you want to go for the separate route, as suggested by others, the best bang for the buck would come from tonearm+headshell+cartridge combo.
I am not an expert, but I would rather go for the cartridge first, then matching headshell, and then compatible tonearm, then the driver+plinth.
However, I would not recommend that route to beginners. Think about it. Purchasing a cartridge, headshell, tonearm, and then driver and plinth all separately, and setting up together for the optimum performance, is quite overwhelming job for beginners. If you are lucky, you will be able to get the whole at once at reasonable price.

To address your question - I would spend my budget on the Arm, then Cartridge and finally turntable in that order - why?

IMO Without a good arm you'll never get the best out of ANY cartridge

Cartridge next, because it works directly with the arm and needs to be as compatible as possible

Turntable is last, because today, most TT's are pretty good quality and will work well with a many arms

But - as some posters have pointed out - it gets far more complicated.

Just another opinion :-)

Regards - Steve