I'm not sure where you read about putting 100% salary into the bank ... the most basic of financial planning is always the emergency fund ... how many is up to u .... 6 months salary is kinda hardcore although it's good to have ... some say have 3-6 months of EXPENSES is good enough ... by the way emergency fund does not mean your iphone rosak suddenly need new phone or car breakdown or what ... emergency fund is used when say *touch wood* anything happen then you can't work ... tat time if u no savings ppl really going to ask u "how u going to survive" ..

So for simplicity sake ... if you save 10% per month ( 90% is your expenses ) ... then you need to have about 270% - 540% of your income ...which means u need about 2 - 4 years to build your emergency fund No1 ask u to save 100% of ur salary fren ...

Btw I'm also a newbie in financial planning If I'm wrong pls correct me too .. but I think this is basic ...

edit: give another example if you're very discipline .. save 50% of your nett income .. then you need to have about 150% - 300% emergency funds ... means in 3 to 6 months time you already have your emergency fund So saving hard is the key .... now that I learn about all this .. I feel stupid looking back at my Altis,my smartphones, my dslr, etc  .... should have just settled with a proton ....

The conclusion is to live BELOW your means, not live WITHIN your means.
Make $100, spend $100 = live now only
Make $100, spend $70, save $30 = balance of now and future

Is it everyone else's fault or one's own responsibility for one's current and future lifestyle?
Your boss-man's responsibility is to give U an opportunity to make a living, NOT make U wealthy.
It's your own responsibility to make yourself wealthy.
Graduates these days with such thinking.. sigh.. anoneh, when i started working, diploma only and $700pm.
U think U have it hard? Plenty of others have it harder - think Syria, parts of Africa, even rural parts of Malaysia. 

Allow me to share some of my opinions.

I use the allocation of 70 in stocks and 30 in bonds for my portfolio.  I used the thumb rule of 100-age=allocation in stocks.

Furthermore, I made sure I have 6 months in cash/liquidity to support me in case of emergencies.  I have disability, health, jobless, liability and legal costs insurance only.  I suggest everyone to consider what risks you would like to transfer and buy the appropriate insurance.  Be a smart consumer and do not listen blindly to the agents.  They are not a financial planner and work only to sell as many policies to you as possible.

I set a goal to increase my net worth by 2% monthly or 27% annually and so far it has been possible.  I monitor my net worth using a simple asset/liability spreadsheet monthly.  My assets such as my car are amortized linearly.  I put most of my salary roughly 35-40% monthly into investments such as the stock market, mutual funds and bonds.  With disciplined monitoring and evaluating of my portfolio quarterly, I rebalance the allocation accordingly.

One golden rule everyone should follow is to only invest in money you can afford to lose.  No matter the investment, always understand the risk, and don't just get blinded by the reward.