Armor for 55 Monk

Does the armor for a 55 monk matter? If its a 60 armor one or a 15 armor one, will you die if you wear armor that is weaker with the same runes on it, just different armor ratings?

The actual armor ratings don't matter since you're going to reduce the damage dealt to 5 anyway. Unless non-max armor won't take insignias.

It doesn't matter at all. Lower armor is cheaper so you might as well go for that. However if you're going to tank as a 600 monk you will need the lowest possible armor rating for it to work, but for 55 monks the armor level does not matter.

There is builds that use spirit bond for healing. For Spirit bond to work, you need to take more than 60 damage (before protective spirit). Because of this, the starter armor (AR 5, iirc) or AR 15 is the better choice.
Prior to inscriptions, the cheapest choice was tattoos from Lion's Arch. Fair cheap and like the previous posters have said , the AR didn't matter. But this was the first place you could get tattoos for the extra energy.

the reason people use the 15 AL is price really. The really early armor is like 10g and require very few materials. Its just an economy thing.

and spirit bond doesnt trigger everytime if ur using 60 AL but your asking about a 55 and the spirit bond only matters in 600