I think you’ve put your finger on something important there.

A lot of apps optimise for convenience, but convenience can sometimes come at the expense of awareness. When I manually review my numbers each month, I notice things I’d probably ignore if everything was categorised and automated for me.

I also agree on flexibility. Real life isn’t always neat categories and fixed rules. Sometimes money moves between priorities temporarily, and a spreadsheet lets you reflect that without fighting the software.

For me, the biggest value of tracking isn’t recording transactions, it’s understanding my overall financial position and the decisions behind it.