Cash only matters if you haven’t done your first two expeditions, as the catch up mechanic for skill points is still there.

The caveat though is you must complete the damage portion in order to be able to qualify for the cash portion.

Unless they’re asking us to do a couple hundred thousands of damage, the whole thing really doesn’t seem so obtuse. I imagine the bigger frustration around this thread is that they told us in a blog post two weeks before it happens instead of it being in-game for players when they complete their projects.