how it's feasible to meet up with normal people without some corporation or the government finding out where you're going and who you're associated with, at least not in the U.S. where I live.
Normal people will tell the authorities everything they know about you if they get ever asked for.
Normal people, if you ask them to use Signal or something and then, again, when asked for, will give authorities your chat history with them.
Not sure what you are trying to say. There's little point to simply keeping records in a plaintext file, but that's not what PTA is about.
It's about using plaintext files that can work with various tools, such as ledger, hledger, or beancount, all capable of generating relevant reports and more, all while being able to edit/automate easily because, well, they're just text files.
Also, the more automation you do the more you can focus on actual analysing your finances which can help you improve.
I'm sure every other tools like this can handle automation very well but provided that you are capable of writing scripts and stuff, PTA is much more versatile and it can work for you better.
imo every single beginner friendly distro all have the same problem. They are, for some extent, easier to use than others, until they're not, at which point you find yourself digging through documents and forums or asking ChatGPT to break the system.
After few years of that dance, I found Linux Mint to be the easiest and Fedora KDE to be the nicest.
If you are concerned about storage price, you should use something like S3 or B2. It's dirt cheap and it will work with almost anything you are currently using.
The only reason you should care if it's overdone or not is if you want to make a living out of it. And if that's the case, don't. It's majorly overdone, yes.