Thankyou all for your posts. Very imformative. I am going to put some of the money to good use and get training for IMC and Night and join a shared group.
Matt
Good idea, but if you really want to avoid risk, in my opinion don't fly at night with a single-engined plane. I'm not suggesting night flying is dangerous, but it is inherently more dangerous than daytime flying. In the unlikely event of an engine failure, by day you have a reasonable chance of a forced landing without killing anyone. By night, the chances are rather lower.
I'm not suggesting night-flying is stupidly dangerous, just a little bit more dangerous than flying by day. And as you were looking (in your first post) to eliminate any avoidable danger in flying...
But I agree with everyone else's posts (and your conclusion) to concentrate on skills-building, and look for your first aircraft ownership in a group with experienced and competent flyers. It's useful to have someone else that knows about maintenance, regulation and so on.