the whole thing is finacially nuts
It is no more "nuts" than 50 other things we do.
Practically everything we do in life is a total financial loss.
The only way to avoid financially-nutty activities is to stay in bed
The key to the money side of it is that you need to be able to do the kitchen
and pay for the flying
As you say there are other costs. I dare not think of the cost of the massive huge hassle of getting the IR. I know the PPL cost me £8500. The actual IR in Arizona was only about £3000 but there was so much hassle around it all.
It's worth every penny