Unreturnable Investment Test
Find purpose by giving to something that cannot fully repay you
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 96%
Galloway reframes purpose as an investment that cannot be fully repaid in conventional terms. He contrasts this with a transactional approach to work and relationships in which every exchange is judged by whether it produces a favourable return. Parenthood became his clearest example: he expects to give more love, concern, time, and money than his children could return, and says that imbalance is the point rather than a defect. He extends the model to veterans, nonprofit work, animal welfare, and advocacy. The reusable test is to identify a person, community, or cause you value, ask whether meaningful service would still matter without equivalent tangible repayment, and make a bounded recurring commitment. This is his philosophy of purpose, not an empirical rule or a claim that everyone should have children.
Origin
Extracted from The Diary of a CEO
Core principles
- 01Purpose is different from a profitable transaction
- 02Deep commitment can exceed measurable personal return
- 03Service directs attention beyond the self
- 04Purpose may come from family, community, or a cause
- 05The chosen commitment must remain ethical and voluntary
How to run it
- 1
Audit the transactions
Notice where you evaluate relationships and commitments mainly by what comes back to you. Separate necessary reciprocity and boundaries from constant scorekeeping.
Pro tip Look for commitments you abandon as soon as the measurable return falls.
Watch out Healthy mutuality is not the same as selfish transactionality.
- 2
Name what matters
List people, communities, and causes that genuinely matter to you. Include options beyond parenthood because Galloway explicitly gives several forms of service.
Pro tip Use sustained concern, not social prestige, as the signal.
Watch out Do not adopt a cause merely to acquire an identity.
- 3
Apply the repayment test
Ask whether you would still contribute if the commitment could never return equivalent money, status, or care. A yes suggests the activity may carry purpose for you.
Pro tip Distinguish intangible meaning from a hidden expectation of praise.
Watch out No return does not mean no boundaries or accountability.
- 4
Choose bounded service
Commit recurring time, attention, money, or effort at a level compatible with health and obligations. Make the contribution concrete enough to practise.
Pro tip Start with a repeatable commitment instead of a dramatic gesture.
Watch out Unsustainable sacrifice can damage both the giver and the cause.
- 5
Review meaning, not profit
Periodically ask whether the commitment deepens meaning, responsibility, and connection. Adjust the form when needed without reducing the review to a financial return calculation.
Pro tip Discuss the commitment with people affected by it.
Watch out Purpose does not make every outcome or method automatically good.
In the wild
Galloway says the love, concern, money, and anxiety he invests in his sons will probably never be returned in equal measure. He describes that expected imbalance as the source of purpose rather than a failed transaction.
→ Care becomes a defining commitment whose value is not measured by repayment.
Galloway names nonprofit work, saving dogs from kill shelters, and supporting bodily autonomy as examples of causes where a person may give far more than they receive in tangible return. The framework allows multiple forms of purpose rather than prescribing one life choice.
→ A recurring service commitment provides meaning without requiring equivalent personal gain.
Common mistakes
Confusing purpose with exploitation
Giving without equal repayment does not require tolerating abuse, coercion, or unsafe demands.
Prescribing one source of meaning
Galloway says children gave him purpose while acknowledging that people can be happy without them and naming other commitments.
Making service performative
A commitment chosen mainly for status recreates the transactional scorekeeping the test is meant to expose.
Is it for you?
Best for
People seeking a durable commitment to family, community, service, or a cause beyond personal optimisation.
Not ideal for
It should not be used to justify exploitation, unsafe self-sacrifice, coercive caregiving, or commitments beyond a person's capacity.
From the transcript
“Finding your purpose is finding that thing that you can never get a real positive return on.”
“When you find that, that's your purpose.”
From the episode
Scott Galloway: AI Wasn’t Built For You. The Rich Don’t Need You Anymore!