A nice way to think about personal finance comes courtesy of Vitaliy Katsenelson, a Russian immigrant and chief investment officer at Investment Management Associates in Denver. In a recent newsletter, Katsenelson quotes from a book by Tim Ferriss, "Tools of Titans." Ferriss interviewed more than 200 people and this exchange struck a chord with Katsenelson.

Q: What is the ultimate quantification of success?

A: For me, it's not how much time you spend doing what you love. It's how little time you spend doing what you hate.

Katsenelson decided to set a new goal for himself in 2017: "To spend as much time as possible doing what you love and as little time doing what you hate." That's a good insight to have for many aspects of life, including developing a money management strategy.

For example, expert advice on money management may list 10 things you should do to build wealth. Every idea and tactic is good. In reality, partly because of your temperament, time constraints, preferences and biography, probably two or three are realistic to follow.

A minor example. I know people who maintain detailed spreadsheets to track their spending and savings. The effort works for them. They enjoy pulling the information together. For them, the data maintenance fits in with Katsenelson's advice to do what you love. (OK, pleasure is likely a more accurate word.)

Me, given a choice between spending time on a system like that and reading a good book, the book will always win out. Still, I know having a budget helps. I've adopted an approach suggested by Eric Tyson, the author of the "Personal Finance for Dummies" series.

Several years ago I interviewed him on the topic of a budget. He questioned whether people need to be tracking their monthly spending. He went on to say, if people "set a specific savings goal like we are going to save 10 percent of our income or 8 percent of our income each month and they are able to do that, then my feeling is who cares where [the money] goes after you have accomplished that savings."

I have my savings target and I've found the simplest way to adhere to it is automate my savings habit. Have your bank or credit union automatically shift money from your checking account into your savings account every month. I also take advantage of pulling together my taxes to take a longer look at the savings and spending. The system is simple, and it gives me more time to do what I love: Read.

Chris Farrell is senior economics contributor, "Marketplace", economics commentator, Minnesota Public Radio.