Study Guide: Alex for Finance Professionals
Your reference for using Alex in financial analysis, advising, and communication. Ready-to-run prompts for analysis, modeling, client communication, and reporting.
What This Guide Is Not
This is not a habit formation guide (see Self-Study Guide for that). This is a finance toolkit — the specific ways Alex can accelerate your analytical and communication work.
Core Principle for Finance Professionals
Finance is about converting uncertainty into decisions. Alex can help you structure analysis, communicate findings, and work through frameworks — but every financial judgment, recommendation, and compliance decision is yours. Alex is not a registered financial advisor and cannot replace your professional responsibility.
Critical: Always verify financial data, regulatory requirements, and compliance standards independently. Do not input material non-public information, client personal data, or confidential deal information into AI tools.
The Seven Use Cases
1. Financial Analysis and Modeling
When to use: Building the narrative around analysis, stress-testing assumptions, structuring models.
Prompt pattern:
Help me structure this financial analysis:
Analysis type: [valuation / budget variance / scenario / forecasting]
Business context: [what's being analyzed and why]
Key assumptions: [the main drivers]
What I have: [data available]
Decision: [what this analysis informs]
Help me:
1. Identify the key value drivers to model
2. Structure the scenario analysis
3. Select the appropriate methodology
4. Stress-test the assumptions
5. Present the sensitivity ranges
Follow-up prompts:
What assumptions am I most at risk of getting wrong?
Build the framework for a [DCF / comparable / budget] analysis.
How do I communicate uncertainty to a non-technical audience?
2. Client Communication and Presentations
When to use: Investment presentations, financial planning discussions, portfolio reviews.
Prompt pattern:
Help me communicate financial information:
Audience: [retail client / institutional / executive / board]
Topic: [what you're communicating]
Key message: [what they need to understand]
Complexity: [technical level appropriate for this audience]
Action needed: [if any]
Create communication that:
1. Leads with what matters to this client
2. Explains without condescending
3. Is clear about risks and uncertainties
4. Avoids jargon where simpler language works
5. Drives toward a clear next step
Follow-up prompts:
A client is panicking about market volatility. Help me draft a response.
Explain [complex product/concept] to a sophisticated but non-technical client.
Write the investment thesis for this recommendation.
3. Investment Research and Due Diligence
When to use: Structuring research, developing investment theses, due diligence frameworks.
Prompt pattern:
Help me structure investment research:
Asset type: [equity / credit / private / real estate]
Company/sector: [what you're analyzing]
Investment thesis: [your initial view]
Key risks: [what could make you wrong]
What I know: [public information and analysis so far]
Help me:
1. Build the research framework
2. Identify the key questions to answer
3. Structure the bear, base, and bull case
4. Develop metrics to track the thesis
5. Find the assumptions that define the debate
Follow-up prompts:
Steelman the bear case against my thesis.
What should I ask management in due diligence?
Write the investment memo structure.
4. Financial Reporting and Narratives
When to use: MD&A, CFO commentary, board reporting, earnings communications.
Prompt pattern:
Help me write financial narrative:
Document: [MD&A / board report / CFO letter / earnings script]
Period: [time period and performance]
Results: [key financials — public or aggregated, never granular client data]
Story: [what drove the results]
Audience: [investors / board / analysts / employees]
Create narrative that:
1. Explains what happened and why
2. Connects drivers to strategy
3. Is transparent about challenges
4. Provides forward-looking context where appropriate
5. Uses plain language alongside financial terms
Follow-up prompts:
The results missed expectations. How do I communicate that honestly?
Write the variance explanation for [revenue / cost / margin].
Translate this financial performance for a non-financial board member.
5. Risk Assessment and Scenario Planning
When to use: Evaluating risks, stress-testing portfolios, preparing for downside scenarios.
Prompt pattern:
Help me assess risk:
Risk type: [market / credit / operational / regulatory / liquidity]
Situation: [what you're stress-testing]
Current exposure: [describe without specific client data]
Constraints: [regulatory, liquidity, mandate limits]
Help me:
1. Identify the key risk factors
2. Build the stress scenarios (mild / severe / extreme)
3. Assess second-order effects
4. Develop the mitigation framework
5. Define early warning indicators
Follow-up prompts:
What risks am I not considering?
How do I communicate tail risk to a client who doesn't want to hear it?
Build the scenario framework for [macro event].
6. Financial Planning and Advice Frameworks
When to use: Structuring financial plans, developing advice frameworks, client goal-setting.
Prompt pattern:
Help me structure a financial plan:
Client type: [individual / family / business — no personal data]
Life stage: [early career / mid-career / pre-retirement / etc.]
Goals: [general categories]
Constraints: [time horizon, risk tolerance, obligations]
Create a planning framework that:
1. Prioritizes goals by urgency and importance
2. Sequences key financial decisions
3. Identifies trade-offs to discuss
4. Builds in scenario analysis
5. Defines review milestones
Follow-up prompts:
What questions should I ask a new client to understand their actual risk tolerance?
Build a checklist for [life event] planning.
What are the most common planning mistakes people make at [life stage]?
7. Regulatory and Compliance Communication
When to use: Disclosures, compliance documentation, regulatory filings.
Prompt pattern:
Help me draft compliant communication:
Document type: [disclosure / reg filing / ADV / client agreement]
Content needed: [what must be covered]
Regulatory context: [jurisdiction and relevant regulations]
Tone: [formal / plain language / technical]
Create a draft that:
1. Covers required disclosures
2. Is written in plain language where permitted
3. Is complete without being unnecessarily complex
4. Flags areas requiring legal/compliance review
Follow-up prompts:
Make this required disclosure more readable without removing anything required.
What am I required to disclose for [product type]?
Review this for completeness — what might I be missing?
Important: All regulatory documents must be reviewed by qualified compliance and legal professionals.
Practice Progression
Week 1: Structure a financial analysis using the framework prompts.
Week 2: Draft a client communication for a current situation.
Week 3: Write a financial narrative for a recent reporting period.
Week 4: Build a risk scenario framework for a current exposure.
What Great Looks Like
After consistent use, you should notice:
- Faster analysis structuring
- Clearer client communications
- More rigorous scenario planning
- Better financial narratives
The goal isn’t for Alex to make financial judgments — it’s for Alex to help you do financial work with more clarity and speed.
Compliance Reminders
- Never input material non-public information
- Never include client PII or account data
- All investment recommendations remain your professional responsibility
- Regulatory documents require qualified professional review
- Follow your firm’s AI use policies
Your fiduciary duty is yours to keep.