If anyone cares here's my story:
I'm 24 years old. I have a steady job considering I have no post-secondary education. I take home about 25k a year.
When I got the job I have now, almost 4 years ago, it was a big pay-bump for me and I could suddenly afford a car. I bought a car, and the payments on it are big, but manageable. Insurance is also expensive, but again - manageable.
Between rent, car, insurance, and the couple other small bills here and there I had a few hundred dollars to play with every month. I thought, yeah I'm in a good situation. I can set some aside if I need to, and I'm not living pay cheque to pay cheque.
Well I didn't pay as close attention as I should have and over those 3 years my expenditures have increased. Dentist bills are expensive (very expensive), some unexpected events have happened in the family further draining the ol piggy bank, and before you know it - all my savings are gone!
Not only that, but the credit card debt I thought I was managing well has been, to some degree, been ignored while I dealt with the more important stuff like funeral expenses.
Fact of the matter is, I came out of high school with little sense of how to properly manage money. I have only myself to blame, but I look around at the other young adults I know and work with and they're worse off than me.
I am currently in a spot where if I don't receive a paycheque, even once, I won't eat - and not only that, I won't be able to pay bills.
I am constantly stressed about the fact that the only things seeming to keep me afloat at this point as my debt has increased to ~12k are the odd bonuses at work, and my ability to set money aside each cheque that I don't even look at until shit hits the fan.
This leaves me with no money to spend on myself. I haven't bought clothes, shoes or really anything for myself in a long time. It's really shitty. I don't complain about it. I don't sulk. I feel lucky with what I have.
I'm not as irresponsible as I sound - I did have a significant amount of money stolen from me in a very stupid situation a couple of years ago but I think that's my point. As long as the money you are bringing in month-to-month isn't growing your total assets, you're setting yourself up for disaster.
I wish every day I could toss all my "assets" aside, start over, and realize that what you have is irrelevant if what you're making can't sustain your lifestyle. If it was just as easy as selling my car and getting a cheaper one and renting a smaller place and paying less I would do it tomorrow but that's not how it works. It's not that easy for me.
I have debt looming. I dream of getting my car taken away from me (despite never missing a payment).
tl;dr - If your bank account isn't growing, you're going in the wrong direction.