A few thoughts
Procedures,
I received my PPL in early 2010. My instructor at the time split his time between me and another gent who went on immediately to get his IR, the MEIR, and then his type-rating for the Phenom 100 that he bought (yeah, lucky guy). If I remember correctly, he did this all in about a year; no CPL, no CFI, no ATP. I have no idea what his insurance costs were or what they are now given that he is always flying. So, a) this can be done quicker, and; b) the additional ratings may not affect your insurance costs given that your lack of Total Time will dominate the calculation.
My aviation goals are nothing like yours, in terms of aircraft. However, I believe that I approached getting my license and then my IR with a rather enthusiastic attitude somewhat like yours. I rapidly discovered that the flight sims were useless because I lacked the experience necessary to properly use them. Primacy (that learned first is remembered best) is pernicious when you're "learning" the wrong things. The sims for avionics, OTOH, are extremely useful once you are in the midst of your training and have some idea of what you're trying to accomplish. So c) skip the xplane or whatever until you have started your training; d) even then, it might be only somewhat useful for those cold IMC days when you can't fly with your CFI in a 152, and e); playing with Garmin's 430 simulator is a heck of a lot cheaper than knob-fiddling in the plane (pun intended).
Good luck!