If you gotta ask, you won't enjoy it.  Honestly after I started training I would write checks in $1000 increments and try to not keep track.  It helped having a very supportive wife.  



Mine all up was a little under 8K I think.  A bare minimum of 40 flight hours at $135 an hour is $5400.  20 hours of instructing at $45 an hour is $900.  Plus there are books, headsets, testing fees, etc.  I did my own ground study so I only had to pay the testing fee for the knowledge portion.  I think the check to the examiner was $300.  You get the idea, plan $10,000.



But put it in context.  If you are a so-so student and solo at 15 hours you have spent around $3000.  However, you have done something less than 1% of the world as done.  



Having said that, I think I started the flight to my examiner at 45ish hours while most people fly checkride at around 60 hours.  Flight time alone would be $8100.  



Keep in mind there are a lot of variables.  In my case I have a very solid understanding of navigation, weather and aerodynamics when I started which helped greatly.  It also helps if you can set aside a short block of time to accomplish the training, I spread mine out over about 3 years which meant relearning a bit.  



Lastly, I think the instructor makes a huge difference.  I had a few that would play on their phones most of the time.  I guess if the instructor is playing on his phone on final that is just his way of signal his confidence in you.    However, I cannot really say he was much better of a pilot that I was.  I started and ended with a guy that was a little bit of a hard ass but could out fly the hell out of me and made me a better pilot.  As a result my checkride was a breeze compared to what some people experienced with the same examiner.  



 

Shit, I blew it career wise. That sounds like a great gig.