[FrankHudson]

It generally a good thing that there are so many makers making so many different kinds of acoustic guitars, but your dilemma shows one drawback of that otherwise wonderful world.

We can't tell you what kind of guitar to buy, we can only add new options to consider, which may increase your "analysis/paralysis."

You can't tell yourself what kind of guitar to buy, because you are still undeveloped as a player. You may find a" lifer," you may not , and nothing will assure this. You're going to have to go into this with, if not blind, sight-impaired, faith. Given that you have some anxiety about future guitar purchasing funds, I'd say the safest choice path has these guideposts:

Buy toward the upper end of your budget range (and if possible buy used), and with a brand that has the easiest resale (Martin, Gibson, Taylor) and take good care of it. If a year or two from now you find that your new playing skills seem to lead you in another direction, you'll take some hit with resale, but at that point you may still have the funds for the sale of your first try to buy a value brand.

The salesman that is aiming you at midsized guitars is also trying to aim for the center of the target, so that if you are a little bit off you still hit something. I'd probably give the same advice, but if you're heart is set on a dreadnaught, get one.

If you have neck preferences like nut width, profile or scale length pay attention to that and don't settle. That's one thing were the large variety of guitars presently available helps tremendously. Particularly is you seeking inspiration as you learn, that's as important, if not more so, than how good the thing sounds.

Lastly, though it's easy to obsess about differences until we start to bring into our concerns smaller and smaller differences, one can play just about anything on just about any acoustic guitar, even your existing Yamaha. You want a guitar to inspire you, I understand that, but inspiration is even more subjective than the music we make on these things. So try to enjoy your search as much as you can.