Equilibrium 2000

With the dawn of the new millennium the business continued to establish itself in the local area and adapted to its new office space in Handforth, an area where we still have our head office today – albeit in a much larger building!

The team significantly expanded during the course of the year. Gareth Jameson, who later went on to become a partner and financial planner, dipped his toe into the financial advisory waters and joined us as an administrator.  

Key events

• Gareth Jameson joined the team
• Turnover increased by 170% on the previous years, reflecting the popularity of our seminars and the increased name awareness

What else happened in this year?

In finance… 

Annual UK Inflation: 0.75% CPI
Bank base rate:

• 13 January 5.7500 %
• 10 February 6.0000 %

IHT threshold: £234,000

In the charts…

The Best British Single and Best British Video at the BRIT Awards winner is Robbie Williams with “She’s the One”.

On the screen…

Two of the highest-grossing films of the year were Mission: Impossible II by Paramount and Gladiator by Dreamworks/Universal.

Around the world…

• 20 March – The technology bubble climaxed with the NASDAQ peaking at 5,132.52 in intraday trading before closing at 5,048.62. Two weeks later, the NASDAQ-100, S&P 500, and Wilshire 5000 reach their peaks prior to the Dot-com bubble, ending a bull market run that lasted over 17 years.
• July 31 – August 3 – The Republican National Convention in Philadelphia nominates Governor of Texas George W. Bush for President of the United States and Dick Cheney for Vice President.

In the UK…

• 1 January – Millennium celebrations take place through the UK and the Millennium Dome is officially opened by the Queen
• 4 August – Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother celebrates her 100th birthday
• 8 September – UK fuel protests – protestors block the entrances to oil refineries in protest against high fuel prices. Panic buying by motorists leads to nationwide petrol shortages, with between 75-90% of all UK petrol stations closing due to low supplies in the following week.

2000