When the economy recovers, as it invariably does, many investors will reap a handsome profit. Bang for your Buck While the term ‘return on investment’ is inherently financial, the saying is commonly used in casual conversations to denote the gain from a cost for some element of input other than financial, such as time investment, emotional investment, or effort investment. I can’t believe it took me four meetings, and much wasted effort to realize in the end that he wasn’t into me. However, the biggest nuance with ROI is that there is no timeframe involved.