You are thinking about what furniture you want in the room of a house that you haven't even broken ground on yet. All fine questions to ask, but too early to matter at this early juncture. You've a long way to go. 18 hours in your book (have you soloed yet?) and no means of financing the journey, I'd focus on that problem first, fueled by your stated love of flying alone. Learn to fly because you love it. Enjoy the journey. When you start to tickle the minimums for a flying job, then worry about the job side of it. That's how I see it.

No pensions anymore. Sorry.

The best bang for your buck is to meet as many people and shake as many hands as you possibly can. Lots of folks, myself included, own airplanes and enjoy having some company up there rather than flying around alone. There are a lot of empty seats up there. The more free rides you can get, though they don't go towards your hours logged, expose you more and more to aviation. You will be amazed what you pick up along the way just by watching other pilots. It'll shorten your training time and maximize your experience per actual logged hour.