Both you and your wife are ’newbies’ to vinyl.
considering that many try and do not stick with vinyl, I recommend a more modest start. If you get hooked, then move up after you have learned more and researched more.
keep or sell the ’starter’ TT.
This is my recommended ’starter’ TT. Get it level, plug it in, play! I had one for years, then 'moved up', gave the AT120 to a friend.
It comes with a cartridge body (VM95) that allows easy upgrading of the stylus tip.
https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/cartridges/line-series/at-vm95-series
with several ’good, better, best’ interchangeable stylus options. Simply pull the existing stylus out, push the alternate stylus in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCva9sgRP3E
It comes with an ’elliptical’ stylus shape.
After a short time, IF you like it, then I recommend you change the stylus to this one:
https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/at-vm95ml
the difference is: the stylus tip is Microlinear which will have more contact surface with the grooves, and last longer than other shapes.
read about stylus shapes here to get the general idea (scroll down to the diagrams):
https://www.sound-smith.com/articles/stylus-shape-information
final point: cartridges have to be critically aligned. the factory does that to the AT120/VM95 combo before shipping. When changing only the stylus, the VM95 body does not need to be re-aligned, the new stylus simply pushes into the aligned cartridge body.
Best of luck with Vinyl Nirvana!