Something still doesn't sound right. Unless you're paying some exorbitant amount for health insurance she should be getting waay more than that! And if you ARE paying that amount for insurance, it might be a good idea to shop around for a cheaper plan. We're on a Medicare advantage plan, and the monthly premium is the same as regular (government) Medicare only with more benefits.
I started taking SS at 62. The company I worked for went toes up just before my 62nd birthday and I figured the likelihood of finding something else at that age that paid even close to what I was making was close to nil, at least without a hellacious commute. Instead, I went the self-employment route, and did well enough that I earned enough to reduce my SS benefits for those years. SS recalculated my benefits when I turned 66, and the benefit came to what it would have been had I waited until 65.
I believe the break-even point is age 79½ give or take when you start coming out ahead for delaying SS.
As it should be. Assuming you start paying in at age 16, for a boomer some of that money's been earning interest for 50 years. Yes it's definitely possible to get a better return by making your own investments, but that would depend on how wisely you invested. Setting up a brokerage account today is a piece of cake, and minimum investment to open one is small, this wasn't the case 40+ years ago. Investment advice/research wasn't as easy to obtain in the pre-internet days either, especially for smaller investors.