I was curious what your professional opinion was for the best path for a career changer. I just turned 43 (late I know) and am unable to start full time training until June as I am currently a teacher. I have about 100k I can spend to do this, but will probably need to a little something for living expenses as my wife can just cover the bills. I have come up with three paths that I am thinking of doing but having trouble deciding which is best.

First and most obvious is academy style school (ATP, Aeroguard) CFI to 1500 and off to regionals. Should be about 100k but nearly no income for 7 or so months, maybe I could Uber here or there. I would have at least the PPL and IR written done before starting. I like the possible direct entry to F9 or Spirit with this option and the 100-hour Multi time ATP offers. But of course, ATP has a bad reputation, and I haven't heard much on Aeroguard.

Second is mom and pop school, although finding one is difficult right now as a bunch wouldn't even return my call to setup an intro flight. But one I did find near me (and liked) says it's 61 thousand (including some time building) from zero to CFII, but only includes 10 hours Multi and no MEI. The pro's are that I can go at a slower pace and work part-time (Still try to be done in a year though) for income. Plus, I would have 35 or so thousand for time-building, or possibly buying a 30k C140 or something else and building a bunch of extra hours outside of CFIing. Additionally, I can start working on my PPL now and hopefully have that done before I could even start at a full-time school.

Lastly is the hybrid, do my PPL at the mom and pop. Then off to ATP for everything else (I don't think Aeroguard has a start with PPL program) and then CFI. I should save a few dollars this way and shave some time off the no-income period at ATP.

Which would you do? or is there an option I haven't thought of?

Thank You