Ken has a good point about building. My nephew was learning to fly while with me in Calif. and when he went home he built his own trainer. Flew that until the covering was falling off. While he was flying that he built a 60 size Bridi Kaos and learned his stunt flying with that plane. After that he got into bigger stunt planes and they were all ARFs but unlike most ARF pilots he was able to do all his own repairs on them when needed.
Building isn't for everyone though, it takes time and is another skill set. I'm one of the few builders I know and get asked to do repairs for people quite often.