I built a Rigger who has some magic but his focus is Drone Control, and I think I did just fine. Sure, all I need is the SimRig, which cost me over half of my starting wealth, but I think I've got a great character. Oh, for the record, we're Street Level, so I started with a Priority A in Nuyen. I've got my car, and one drone (MCT FlySpy), my Ares Predator, and some armor. Yeah, more drones would have been nice, but there's room to grow.
I can't believe that I'm about to say this (seeing as how I started playing in 4th Edition) but it sounds like you're trying to convert 4th Edition to 5th. It works, but not well. There were a lot of things that people disliked about 4th Edition, and 5th goes back to the way they were prior. (And there was much rejoicing.) Yeah, 'ware is expensive, as it should be.
I tend to like lower powered games (especially for distopias, I don't know why), but if you're group is running out of nuyen to build their characters and you want a higher level of character, play Prime Runners. 100,000 nuyen base (E) to 500,000 (A). If you're still running out, turn 25 of your 25 karma into 50,000Y.