After having thought about it for a few hours (and reading some of the later responses), I'm going to go even further against the grain than I did earlier:
If I was going to spend $500 to get into the knife hobby knowing what I know now, I'd buy 3-4 knives in various steels totaling around $200, spend the rest on a quality sharpening system (there are lots of good options), and then (most importantly) spend the time it takes to learn how to use it properly.
No matter how good a factory edge is, you'll need to sharpen it eventually. You don't want to use a $500 knife as your practice mule while you learn how to put a really good edge on. Or even a $200 knife.
Buying a good sharpening system from the get-go (read reviews here and elsewhere to help you find a good one) will save you doing what I did and spending a ton on inferior solutions, wondering why I could never get a good edge on my fancy blades...