Seconding (even thirding) two things from previous:
There are advantages to getting a discount for upfront payment - but there's a risk involved. My suspicion is that the risk is much smaller than people think - people only make a noise when it goes wrong, never when (in the vast majority of cases) it goes right.
Be careful of investing heavily in getting a licence if you're not going to be able to keep flying afterwards. Either because it's too expensive, or because you only have enough to fly the minimum hours and so it becomes an obligation to fly, rather than a pleasure.
My tuppence. Safe flights, Sam.