Don't ask me. I got all 3 licenses, installed an antenna, bought all my gear, and about to buy a new radio all while "unemployed". Of course I don't have a wife and kids. I just found out this week that my girlfriend of 19 years is making about 5x what I was previously. She should have kept that to herself. It really did nothing to reduce my recovery time

again, homie, will likely be selling my Argonaut VI when my Eagle arrives.  wait time on the sale for those who purchased, by the time i did (a couple hours under the deadline), is 12-14 weeks.  will be working my CW skills on my Argo VI in the interim.  let me know if you are interested, as i'll probably be putting i up in the $800-$900 range.

10W gets you pretty far in CW.  also, there are some cheap amps that will be you up to 50W that are highly rated for about $250.

Hardrock 50W amp site

Hardrock Eham reviews

learning CW has wide ranging applications in the hobby, & makes the most of whatever wattage you should choose to use.

according to my calculations, from the December 2013 issue of QST magazine, 10W of CW is equal to ~500W of SSB.  PSK is even better than CW.

check my old thread here, which references the article, so you can read it yourself.  makes for interesting reading/thought-provoking:

old thread i made

ETA:  most of the replies in the thread linked didn't do the calcs, unfortunately.  "robmkivseries70" seemed to have seen the dB figure i quoted, & one other poster "wdlsguy" seemed to go a calc that got him 10W CW = 270W SSB.

take a look & see what you think.  of course, ceteris parabis, you are always better off w/ more power, for a given mode, but if you are willing to trade CW skill for $$, it seems like possibly a reasonable way to go, while saving up money for an amp or a full-strength xceiver.