I would like to suggest the newbie learns VBA. The financial world
lives and breathes Excel. VBA is by far the language most likely to be
of use to someone entering that world. It's pretty clear programming
is a tool for his/her use, rather than something that (s)he wants to
do for it's own sake. Having said that, Excel can be viewed as a type
of DSL in it's own right, so pushing the boundaries of what can be
done 'natively' is a great place to start.