That's why I'm going halves. While it's still money, 20-25k is more
in my ball park. I've done business dealings with the other guy
before, so the partnership detail is easy. My wife and I have become
accustomed to living below our means, so stuff like this is now
possible.

Owning the thing will
allow both of us to build hours for much less money after soloing.
Barry - this is possible. My accountant and I bought a Cessna 182 -
kept it for around 6 years, took on another partner then sold the
plane for a health profit. I logged around 250 hours and got my
instrument rating. When we sold the plane it pretty much covered my
entire cost of owning and flying the plane - basically, we owned it
for free (if you don't count the labor doing some of the maintenance
and grunt work on annuals etc). The only drawback is that you have to
put out the money during that time and it can get expensive. It hurts
to pay out a couple thousand for maintenance items etc. Good luck -
hope you enjoy it.