Both Veritas and Lie-Nielsen make super quality tools, the decision between the two is based on the product and personal preference.
For beginners the veritas' line of bevel up planes is a good place to start bench plane-wise. (with the BU design its very easy even for a novice to reach exellent results)
For the most common bevel down type bench planes I would go with L-N.
Joinery planes are also very important, I regulary use my router plane and shoulder planes to clean up joints made with power or hand tools.
But a good set of chisels is probably where you should start. I would buy the veritas pmv-11 bench chisels.
But the steel isnt the deciding factor when it comes to choosing chisels, choosing a handle type that suits your hand and your ''style of working'' is very important also.
Still the Veritas bench chisels are a good place to start looking. The economical choise for bench chisels are the Narex bench chisels, which are the best bang for your buck on the market.
For saws, I like japanese saws but I have two veritas saws and they are amazing for the money.
If money wasnt an object and I was looking for western type saws I would buy Lie-Nielsen.
And having hand tools also requires a good sharpening set.
-Scary-sharp method is cheap, but works
-waterstones are the way to go in my oppinion, norton stones are rather economical + a diamond plate or sandpaper on float glass to flatten them
-diamond plates are getting cheaper and they dont require flattening but they are still rather coarse, too coarse for a truly fine edge.
-etc etc there are too many methods for me to list
Do the research and decide the best method for you.