Only a madman would do the JAA
CPL/IR for private flying only. The extra 7 exams are a lot of work. It is more than 7 extra exams too because the 7
PPL/IR exams are (in the UK) less than a subset of the 14.
As regards the Q re strategy, I recommend that anybody in that position has a browse of my
long writeup especially the notes near the end of it. Much depends on how much you value international IFR, whether you have a plane which can take advantage of it and do high altitude trips like
this, and how much you want it
now relative to your present age. I've had that since 2006 and found it priceless and, being 55, one doesn't have unlimited time to enjoy life. One can go everywhere in Europe "VFR" but quite a bit of it will be in IMC and more to the point not as safe as it could be because much ATC will not let you into CAS so you end up pushed into IMC and collecting ice instead of flying above it as you can with the IR. This is a conversation I've had with individuals countless times and only the individual can answer it for himself. Some of them will obviously (to me) never do an IR (any IR) because their lives are self evidently too busy running their work or their packed social life - even if they have the money to fly enough to stay current and have access to a suitable plane. Some of those people could have done an
FAA IR because that one is easier to fit around a busy life because it has just one exam whose content is mostly relevant to aviation and it can be done wholly with freelance instructors, but then you get stuffed (in Europe) over the checkride..... I did the FAA IR because my lady was away for 4 weeks and I could then spend 2 weeks living out of a sh*thole in Arizona. In 2011 I did the JAA IR purely as an insurance policy against the EASA worst case scenario because I had just finished one big project and wanted something to get stuck into for a few months. The JAA IR I have is not even valid to fly my own plane! But I was not going to do it if it meant living for weeks out of some sh*thole near an FTO so I bent over backwards to do it at my local airport. I was fortunate to bump into some extremely helpful individuals who made it all possible to do it in my own plane.
If you have lots of time and no life then the answer is obvious: do an FAA CPL/IR (like I have) and do a JAA CPL/IR, all ME of course, and then you have gold plated papers which entitle you to the full gold braided Col Gaddafi uniform from Transair
And Bob Pooley will be delighted to sell you one of his £800 swords to wear with it.