Finance… a rather boring word in a time filled with fantasies of artificial intelligence (AI), automated cars, galloping robot dogs, or even reusable rockets. Change the word to "money" and suddenly everyone is listening. The importance of money in the business world is not the same as its daily connotation. Money among professionals is a measure of value, risk, or the worthiness of doing something. For us, value is often expressed through joy, entertainment, fear, adrenaline, and intimacy, with money playing an intermediary role. The problem arises when we try to share these experiences; what matters to one doesn't matter as much to the other. However, everyone can speak the language of money, and like every other language, you need to learn it to understand. Only then can you recognize its importance outside personal expenses, its development over time, and its susceptibility to change.

Financial analysis is the process of evaluating any transaction and, therefore, decision — every step in any business is calculated to ensure performance and sustainability. What do financial analysts exactly do? Suppose you are an entrepreneur or a broker hoping to score a big win with an idea you truly believe in. Chances are because the majority of wealth is concentrated among a small portion of the population and an even smaller pool of those willing to invest, you won't get far without promising something in return. However, there are no promises in finance — there are only forecasts and analyses. From investments and equity to property and insurance, financial analysis is key to persuasion that figuratively becomes a science of its own. The science begins with data collection used to build financial models, risk assessment and valuations, and stretches all the way to client interactions and presentations to the investors you seek to onboard.

Perhaps, there isn't an industry where finance is even virtually absent! Any sustainable business model relies on the careful allocation of monetary resources. While product-centered divisions like marketing, sales, R&D, and production function to bring the idea to the market, the finance department keeps it alive and makes sure it can get there in the first place.

The circumstances of each firm or institution differ case by case, and unlike science — where you can apply the same set of general solutions to similar problems, financial analysis has to be tailored even under the same issue. Thus, in-depth knowledge of a broad variety of topics is highly valued, while professionals should gain experience to adapt their skills to the ever-changing circumstances. Certifications are so hard to obtain that they are sometimes compared to the law industry's bar exam. Exams such as Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Certified Public Accountant (CPA) are notorious for their rigor, but are simultaneously famous for being the industry standards to the biggest companies in the world — and for a good reason. The stakes are high for analysts, with decisions needing to be made every day. There is no simple patch that can come in and fix an issue that was overlooked, not even mentioning the million-dollar costs and impact. The job is often referred to as "crunching numbers", but that is an understatement. Analysts are highly in demand due to the applicability and transferability of their skills, and the compensation is therefore typically generous, with a considerable amount of bonuses and incentives.

However, analysts may be at risk of prolonged unemployment. Fintech (financial technology) used to be a combination of analytical tools and software for human employees; however, now AI just rolls off everybody's tongues. Mobile payments apps with built-in analytics, robo-advisors, generative AI, blockchain, automated data analysis, and real-time global information access already exist as solutions to an analyst's job. Of course, people are generally skeptical about AI handling their money; however, humanity is also busy with building trust in this technology. Intuitively, we are digging our own industry-sized graves. The question is not in wondering when we will all lay down in it, but rather what we can do with it.

The giant pit meant for our "expiration" can easily serve as a stable foundation for a newer industry and a fresh batch of professionals. We are all tired of hearing it, but transdisciplinary education and employment can very well be the future, and finance is no outlier despite it still being a human-heavy industry. What makes the finance industry an interesting example in the context of the digital revolution is the fact that the essence of the job has barely changed. Money was invented circa 600 BC, banking in the medieval times, and we saw the first operations of stock markets some 400 years later. Since then, we began using credit cards and ATMs and started relying on electronic trading, online banking, wireless instantaneous transfers, and, most recently, cryptocurrency. Not to discredit the genius of these inventions, but they are all essentially just new methods of using and storing money, and it mostly meant that analysts needed to get faster at accessing and processing the suddenly overflowing ocean of information. What awaits the world next, however, is the realization that we can never be superior in speed and computational power again. It will perhaps no longer be about the steep incline of one's career trajectory but its breadth and flexibility. The message to humanity seems clear — the soup is getting cold. Reject the traditional idea of a career, stop trying to find what's missing and how you can be better, and instead forecast what will not be there and what you can bring to the table hot.