Thoughts on "philosophies" of gun ownership / shooting.
Most people / "gun guys" are not shooters. They buy guns that get fired once or twice or, in many cases, not at all. Some of these people own lots of guns and/or buy/sell/swap/trade these guns regularly.
PF is... different. PF was founded by shooters. The mission statement being "for students and teachers of the pistol." The concept being software / training / skills over hardware. That doesn't mean we're not interested in hardware, but usually when it provides some tangible advantage rather than just novelty.
There are people in this thread who carry (or carried) guns for a living for "go look for trouble" purposes. Even for normal self defense (i.e. "get out of trouble purposes) idea of a traditional carry rotation i.e. completely different guns for different days of the week, none of which are well vetted or a high level of skill with is somewhat anathema.
Even for highly skilled shooters there is some loss of performance (10-15% ?) until one acclimates to the nuances of the particular platform.
Plus buying the necessary support gear (Holsters, magazines, sights/optics, etc) can often cost as much as the gun.
The consensus is the best way to build skill is to pick a decent gun ( and associated support gear), stick with it as a baseline, then buy ammo focus on developing software / skills. Then buy another identical copy (or two) of your main gun so you have an identical training gun and an identical spare if one breaks, is lost/stolen, or taken into evidence after a defensive shooting. Everything breaks if you shoot it enough and I've sent a co-worker home with my gun after an officer involved shooting in which his was taken as evidence because the closest spares were 5 hours away. It happens.
Of course monastic dedication to "the path" can get... boring, or result in burnout. So there are some options.
One is the Serial Monogamy model - Run a gun / platform for 6 months to a year then switch to something new for 6 months to a year. Rinse and repeat. This essentially is what PF founder Todd Louis Green did with his long term test/reviews. However it can get expensive buying two guns and associated support gear over and over. .
The other is the "shoots for fun" model. This is what I, and some others here do. I have two similar "working" guns - currently a SIG 320 and P365XL (previously a Glock 17 and 26) which are my consistent duty / carry / training /competition guns. These are my" working" guns and the focus of serious training.
I have other guns that I take to the range and shoot for fun / experience, but I'm clear on what they are, and are not. This could be anything from a 2011 or LTT Beretta to an alternate "plastic people popper" such as the Walther PDP to a century old Colt revolver.
Along these lines, if you look at the total $$$ you have in several budget and mid priced guns you actually have the funds for a decent higher end gun or two. It's a matter of do I want 8 "ok" polymer striker fired pistols' or do I want 2 higher end pistols with lights, optics, and all accoutrements for the same $$ ? It's just a matter of what you want.