Rat race.

"Rat Race is a term used to describe a frustrating, hard-to-break financial lifestyle. It is a lifestyle that is lived by countless people, oblivious to the very nature of it, to a degree that even when called upon, vehemently deny it.

To summarize the Rat Race, It involves subjecting one's self to a time-consuming job, saddling one's self with heavy mortgages/rents, bills, children, and liabilities, forcing the individual to continue busting his or her ass at that same job. The illusion that working at the same job will be better bars off alternatives.

It is also a misconception that getting more money will solve financial distress, but those who subject themselves most voluntarily to the race, just spend more and more, digging themselves the same hole. "I'm not interested in money." They will say. If they aren't, then why are they thanklessly toiling their lives away and constantly bitching about their financial scarcity?

It involves a variable combonation of self-induced fear of poorness, a lack of choice, horrible spending habits, or the inability to adapt to the new changes in the work force taking place during the time of this definition entry.

There exists many options for financial gain and exit of the rat race. Remember, the definition of insanity also entails doing the same thing over and over again, in an attempt to make things change.
~ My father is well educated and works a decent paying job, but gets taxed through the nose as he busts his ass for 60 hours a week. He claims to not like money, but his hairs have gone from financial stress. He's forever stuck in the rat race.

~ My mother married a shitty man and had three kids, myself included. She let the man handle all of the expenses, and eventually she got dropped cold turkey. While trying to fight for child support, she had no choice but to enter the rat race at her older age. We did too, when we started becoming adults."
From Urban Dictionary.