Taking the leap

The financial confidence Helen found after joining Equilibrium allowed her to move to a part-time role and turn her one of her hobbies into a business.

Helen joined Equilibrium after her parents became clients following a referral by a friend.

“I would say I was fairly good at managing my money and have always tracked my spending, in the early days on paper and then moving to personal banking software which allows me to not just track my spending but to also categorise and analyse the information.” Helen says. “The key difference with Equilibrium was the ability to look forward and model what my financial situation could look like in the future. Apart from being aware of my pension, my knowledge of my finances has always been a here-and-now view, unable to really envisage what that means in the long term.”

After a review of her situation and objectives by Equilibrium, Helen found that she had the financial security to move to a part time role in less stressful work. This allowed her to spend more time with her family and also pursue her interest in furniture upcycling, which has now evolved from an interest into a small business!

“Because you have to share such personal information, you inevitably feel like your adviser knows you well, even if you only meet once a year. When I was considering leaving my well-paid, corporate job to move to a part-time, public sector job I ended up ringing my adviser to get some last-minute advice.

“I feel that I could contact Equilibrium at any time, whether it be a quick question about a pension figure to put in my self-assessment or a more profound question like in this case.”

Although financial planning can often be complicated and jargon-packed, Helen has found that Equilibrium live by their promise to make things simple: “Simplicity is evident in the way that information is provided in many formats and levels of detail so that you can choose how much you need to know and understand.”

In fact, Helen looks forward to her annual reviews: “The atmosphere is professional yet friendly and informal. To provide the right advice you need to understand quite a lot about a client’s life; their personal circumstances, lifestyle, spending habits, dreams and aspirations etc. With this sharing of personal information, discussions can become quite searching and profound,” Helen adds, “I often joke that my financial adviser is often also a life coach!”

Helen says that she would recommend Equilibrium’s services to others who have a pension or money they would like to invest: “I would make this recommendation based on the positive experience I have had and the confidence I feel in Equilibrium’s ability to constantly monitor the markets and take action as needed to manage their portfolios.

“Integrity and excellence have been demonstrated in the customer service I have received whether at face-to-face meetings, telephone calls or emails.”