I've got about 30-some years into the instrument now too..... and I've long thought if I had to do it over again I woulda/shoulda played piano/keys. That said, if it's too late to call the audible....
Folks are right about lessons. I didn't have any lessons until about 2 years ago, and they were extremely helpful. But there are different kinds of lessons..... Some folks teach songs, and even take requests.... like you have a fav song and they'll figure it out and teach it to you. This can be good b/c it can be motivating to learn songs that you love and show off to your friends, but there's a limit to it. I think some sort of hybrid where they have songs and also teach scales, arpeggios, and CAGED would be the gold standard. Or maybe teach the songs in the context of scales, arps and CAGED so you can generalize what you're learning to other things. That was what lessons did for me, he tied all of the scales and CAGED and whatnot together for me.
When I called him to set up lessons, he asked me how long I was playing and I said over 25 years and was was like.... You Should be teaching.... and I said... yeah no **** that's why I'm calling you right now.
Don't forget to budget for an amp as well. Positive Grid Spark has some pretty cool lil amps that are super versatile and seem great for beginners.
I'm a hard core guitar snob cork sniffer as Biff calls them (very fairly) so I'm not too informed on what's a good beginner value but I think Squire is as good as any for that purpose.