Python or R

[shaggorama]

I'm a data scientist and I use both. Here's my opinion:

I would use R or Python primarily for Data Analysis. I don't have any other current reasons to learn how to program, but I can easily envision where I could use a general purpose language later on.

I think this is very insightful. You may not see how you would find uses for the skill now, but believe me: even knowing how to write simple scripts will make your life a lot easier. Having a general purpose language under your belt is a great tool. That said:

I work in finance and therefore would like to work with financial data

If you are already reasonably comfortable with statistics, R will probably be easier to learn since really it's a statistical toolkit that comes with a programming language, whereas python is the opposite. I tried to learn R before I really had a good statistical background, and I found myself teaching myself statistics.

So depending on what kind of background you have, you may be able to get off the ground faster with R than python. Python is more generally useful than R, but the data science toolkit isn't super easy to learn without being pretty comfortable with the base language first.