2013

What else happened in this year?

In finance…

Annual UK Inflation: 2.00% CPI
Bank base rate: 0.5000% since 2009
IHT threshold: £325,000 since 2009

In the charts…

• The decline of physical album purchases continued, with 2014 being the first year since 1984 during which no artist managed to sell over 1 million copies of an album by the end of the year. This however did not stop music legend David Bowie releasing his 24th studio album, after a 10 year absence from the music industry. The Next Day reached number one on the album chart. 

On the screen…

• The Disney animated film Frozen is released. Disney’s 53^rd animated film, Frozen went on to become the most successful animated film one of all time. 

Around the world…

• 5^th March – The Dow Jones surpasses its 2007 pre-financial crisis levels for the first time. It would go on to set a new record high in May, along with the S&P 500.
• 13^th March – Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio is elected pope, taking the papal name Pope Francis.
• 5^th April – A month after the improved levels of the Dow Jones, Japan’s Nikkei 225 reaches its highest level in five years.

In the UK…

• 8^th April – Former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher passes away after suffering a stroke.
• 8^th May – Sir Alex Ferguson announces his intention to retire as manager of Manchester United at the end of the season, after 27 years with the club.
• 22^nd July – Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge is born in London, son of Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge. Prince George is 3^rd in line to the throne.

The year saw Equilibrium expand to Chester. We opened a new office at Chester Business Park and began hosting seminars in the Chester area.

The business was also awarded Best Wealth Manager at the Money Marketing Awards. The awards are regarded as a key event in the financial services industry calendar where the UK’s major financial service organisations come together to celebrate best practice. Being named Best Wealth Manager was a great honour and was further proof of our ability to compete against larger firms with a national reach.

Equilibrium also featured in the Financial Times’ Private Wealth Management Survey for the second time. The survey analyses performance figures of wealth managers over 1, 3 and 5 years and we were delighted to be in the top 5 performing wealth management companies in the UK. We have consistently performed well in this annual survey and were recently included in the survey for the fifth consecutive year. To find out more about our 2016 results click here.

Key events

• Equilibrium expanded to open its first office in Chester.
• We won Best Wealth Manager at the Money Marketing Awards 2013
• We were ranked in the top 5 performing wealth management companies in the UK in the Financial Times’ Private Client Wealth Management Survey