You are already aware of the fun of trying to locate components, and you can't do much without them. That being said, if you can get primers and powder the rest is not that hard. Buy in bulk at every opportunity, stockpile what you can every chance you can. The last few years have taught many of us the importance of having components on hand in quantity. Not getting political, but traditionally every 4 years there is some ort of component shortage and having components to load simplifies these shortages. Remember folks clamoring about trying to get their 2 box limit just go practice? Remember the shelves being bare and not even finding ammo at all for a while? Reloading eases or removes that as a concern. Looking ahead at whatever uncertainty may come, having the ability to reload, and having components to do so will keep you shooting when many others are not able. That has tremendous value in and of itself. Having the knowledge and skill to do it, even if it isn't your most favorite thing to do, could at some point be a great thing.
Having a mentor is a tremendous advantage most of us didn't have. Ask if he will let you come by and see the process, explain it, and maybe try it out. Get a manual and read the first part, that explains the process and will no doubt generate more questions. Like anything else new to you, you don't know what you don't know. That means there is so much more to this that you are not aware of yet that you don't even know you need to know it. There will be many questions you will need to ask that you are not even aware of yet. That's completely normal and to be expected so don't feel bad about asking. I'd much rather ask a silly question and get a better understanding of what I'm doing and how things work together than risk something possibly going wrong and damaging a gun or worse.
It is possible to save money, even today by reloading. It may not be much, or you may never save a dime. I load 9mm, 223, 38, and 357(by quantity) and I load a lot of them. I saved tremendous amounts of money over the years by buying in bulk, catching sales, scrounging brass at the range, even trading stuff at times. I have a simple setup that works for me and
I don't keep buying new gadgets that will have to pay for themselves later on. You may decide to frequently upgrade this or that, add new hardware to make things easier, who knows what may happen. Whatever you decide, get a decent quality press, god dies, some manuals, a solid bench with good lighting, and use your mentor if he is willing, to explain the process and workflow at the bench and maybe even split orders for components with you.