I got this truing stand for about $60:



My LBS charges $25 for a standard wheel truing. To be honest, if that were all there were to the equation, I don't think the truing stand would be economical. Good wheels just don't go out of true very often, and as other have said most of the time you can just true a wheel on the bike (I've even had my LBS do that once when they weren't charging me for a wheel true and I just took in a bike with enough hop in the wheel to trigger the mechanic's OCD).

However, there's an awful lot to be said for getting the right tools and building a set of wheels for yourself from new components. The wheels probably won't be cheaper than you could buy pre-made, but you'll get lifetime free ride-along support from the wheelbuilder, which can definitely come in handy. Plus, building wheels and riding on wheels you built yourself is very satisfying. Afterward, you'll be better at truing your wheels, should they need it, and you'll be comfortable with things like spoke replacement.

My favorite part so far: I taco'ed a wheel recently at a CX race. It wasn't terrible, but it was bad enough that making it true left the spoke tension badly out of whack. It was a cheap factory wheel that came stock on my 2008 Kona Jake, so I was going to just break it down and toss the rim in the recycling bin. Once I had it apart though I decided, just for the experience, to see if I could straighten the rim and build it back up true with even tension. To my surprise it worked. Paying the LBS to do this job would have easily exceeded the value of the wheel, but doing it myself I gained experience and saved the wheel at the cost of just a couple of hours doing something I enjoyed.