Life After The (Defunct) Money Apps

Last week, the popular money management app Qube suddenly went bust with its banking partner. Users were told to move their money out of their Qube accounts by September 30 and figure out their own system somewhere else, until Qube could relaunch with a new banking partner (at an unknown date).

This requires changing automatic deposit information and autodraft bill pay information, as well as losing access to any and all features that users were accustomed to having for managing their money, like Qube’s digital envelope system. Basically, it's a giant headache.

It’s a good reminder that technological solutions are not required for managing money well. In fact, I’d argue they often add unnecessary complexity and lack of personalized flexibility (even though they’re sold on the opposite premise).

They also routinely blow up in our faces.

When the Mint budgeting app closed up shop last year, many people panicked then also. But my simple cashflow spreadsheet kept humming right along.

The truth is that any system that relies on a particular platform or app is vulnerable. Companies change their terms, features go premium, they’re acquired by someone else, or they shut down overnight. If you’ve built your habits around them, you’re left scrambling.

That’s one reason I’ve stuck with a simple spreadsheet modeled after the old-school checkbook register. It doesn’t push updates. It doesn’t demand a subscription. And, importantly, it doesn’t disappear without notice.

That’s because a cashflow spreadsheet system is built on foundational principles, unchanging simple truths that are necessary and sufficient because they are minimal.

In contrast, any special app or software is built on its own assumptions about how users should and want to manage money that are usually beyond sufficient, meaning many features and functions are “nice to have” for some users, but ultimately unnecessary.

And worse, you don’t control access to them. A cashflow-style spreadsheet (i.e., digital check book register) can be run for free in Google Sheets or using Microsoft Excel, a basic software program that has existed since 1985, a remarkably long life in the digital age. It can also be done in a handwritten register, just with much less robust forecasting ability.

The same lesson shows up outside of money, too. When I started learning Spanish, everyone’s first question was, “Which app are you using?” But I quickly discovered the low-tech way — books and listening practice with real books and stories — worked much faster and stuck longer.

I also see the same in homeschooling. The deeper I get into this journey, the less helpful fancy apps and pricey open-and-go curriculum programs feel. The most meaningful learning often comes from the simplest foundational methods, not the fanciest tools.

Of course, tech has its place (and I get the irony of emailing you this message). But it’s worth pausing before handing over important parts of our lives to apps and algorithms.

Because simple solutions will almost always outlast the shiny ones.