[theorymeltfool]

If you're struggling to pay for basic necessities, then you need to examine your spending habits and cut out unnecessary things in order to increase your savings rate.

After a base-level is established, you can have more "freedom" to either spend it on luxuries, or invest.

I personally am able to save/invest about 60-70% of my income/month, and I have about a 10% buffer each month available for "extras/fun/emergencies". If I have an expensive month (for example, December, which included a lot of travel and gift buying), then I just temper January's spending so that I can save more that month.