Latest news with #Gallacher
Daily Mirror
31-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Brits warned over 'simple mistake' after pension pot is hit by £80,000 blow
Brits have been warned to avoid making a particular mistake when it comes to their pension, as one man found out that it could lose him £80,000 UK households have been warned against making a simple error that cost one pension pot £80,000. Whilst it may be appealing to reduce expenses on pension services, this is one area where financial advisers are urging people not to economise. Scott Gallacher, director at Rowley Turton, said: "Cutting costs by skipping financial advice can be a false economy." Explaining why it's crucial to ensure all your details are accurate, Mr Gallacher recounted the story of a client who missed out on tens of thousands simply for ticking the wrong box. It comes after news of a £200 payment for state pensioners born before 1959 to be made soon. He revealed: "One DIY client ticked the wrong box when accessing his pension and lost £200,000 of tax-free cash – an £80,000 tax hit." "This was a few years ago. He had an old occupational scheme but transferred benefit not as a 'wind up' or 'buddy transfer', and lost scheme-specific tax-free cash entitlement and was then limited to 25%. Another refused to pay our £500 fee for help encashing an offshore bond, only to lose £1,500 in unnecessary tax." MrGallacher added: "Retiring without advice can mean missing out on enhanced annuities, costing up to 10% of your retirement income for the sake of 1% in fees. Clients also regularly overpay on mortgages by not using a broker, or stick with poor-value pensions and investments with high fees. The cost of advice is often dwarfed by the long-term value it adds – or the disasters it prevents." The Money and Pensions Service reports that over 45 million individuals in the UK have private pension funds, with varying amounts set aside for their retirement. However, it seems future retirees may not have it as good as today's pensioners. Those retiring in 2050 are projected to have £800 or 8% less private pension income than those retiring today, according to the report. It was also found that four in 10 people are currently not saving enough money for their retirement. For those looking to start saving for their retirement years, the earlier, the better. This will give the money enough time for it to grow, leading to a larger pension pot in retirement. Tony Redondo, founder of Cosmos Currency Exchange, warned: "Shortcuts often lead to bigger bills. Skimpy insurance policies may not cover damages, leaving you to pay big out-of-pocket costs."
Scotsman
29-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Fringe By The Sea: Remembering The McKinlay Sisters, who supported The Beatles and the Rolling Stones
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... They were the first Scottish girl band to break into the charts 60 years ago and the first to ever play Wembley Arena as they toured with The Rolling Stones. Now the story of The McKinlays, a pair of sisters from Edinburgh, is to be told in a documentary to be screened at Fringe by the Sea in North Berwick. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Jeanette Gallacher, who formed the band with her sister, Sheila, in the early 1960s after taking part in a local talent contest at an Edinburgh nightclub, is to speak on a panel at the festival, ahead of the showing of documentary Since Yesterday on August 10. The documentary, by co-directors Carla J Easton and Blair Young, who will also speak alongside Ms Gallacher, examines the 'untold' story of Scotland's 'missing' girl bands and looks at why they did not enjoy the same level of fame as their male counterparts. 'Guys have power that girls don't in that business, especially back then,' Ms Gallacher said. 'We would be knocking on the door of the agency asking for our money and be told 'oh, the cheques haven't come in'. The McKinlay Sisters supported acts including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Gerry and the Pacemakers, but never became household names and struggled to make ends meet as performers. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Jeannette Gallacher was one half of the McKinlay sisters who supported bands including The Beatles in the 1960s. | Fringe by Sea Ms Gallacher recalls the day she and Sheila were asked to record their songs at a studio in London after winning the contest, following a short tour of Scotland. 'The very idea of going to London and making a demonstration disc, which was what we were doing, was incredible at age 17,' she said. 'My dad would have signed anything, we didn't know anything about the business. It wasn't a good move at all, as the agent was not very caring and we were sent all over the place without any management. For the solo girls on their own, it must have been awful. But at least I had my sister, so we never suffered any actual abuse, but we were not supported.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The pair soon became popular support acts and played on tours with major bands. Ms Gallacher remembers finding the members of The Beatles to be ordinary people. The McKinlay sisters. | The McKinlay sisters. 'You take it for granted because when you're doing it, you don't see them as these big icons,' she said. 'The Beatles were big at this point, but they were just very nice guys. They were just our colleagues, we would chat to them.' She remembers John Lennon as being 'a bit sarcastic', while Paul McCartney was the most friendly. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Once, we were in Edinburgh at the ABC, in our dressing rooms and some girls tried to climb up into our dressing rooms because they thought that was where they [The Beatles] were,' she said. 'A lot of nonsense went on, it was quite funny.' Following the release of their fourth single in 1965, the sisters moved to Germany where they toured as The McKinlay Sisters. Jeanette later became one half of a vocal duo called Die Windows, scoring a number one hit in Germany in 1972, before retiring to bring up her family in Edinburgh. Sheila McKinlay died 13 years ago. 'Doing the documentary without her felt strange,' Ms McKinlay said. 'It was bittersweet to look back on that time, the special time with my sister.'
Scotsman
24-07-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
'I left a bit out there' - Stephen Gallacher on strong Senior Open debut
Scot sits in top 20 after opening round as Scottish-based Kiwi sets pace at Sunningdale Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Stephen Gallacher had mixed feelings after marking his ISPS HANDA Senior Open debut with a sub-par effort at Sunningdale. On the one hand, the former Ryder Cup player was pleased to sign for a two-under-par 68, which left him sitting in the top 20 at the end of the opening round. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad But, on a day when Scottish-based Kiwi Steven Alker set the pace with a seven-under 63, Gallacher was disappointed that he wasn't closer to the lead. Stephen Gallacher signed for a two-under-par 70 on his debut in the ISPS HANDA Senior Open at Sunningdale | Getty Images 'I left a bit out there, to be honest,' he said after covering the first ten holes in four under before dropping shots at the 12th and 18th at the Berkshire venue. 'I only missed one green and two fairways, just didn't hole the putts. 'My golf was very strong. Disappointed to bogey the last but, apart from that, it was okay as it's not an easy course at all. The wind was swirling a little bit, so under par is not a bad start.' Alker, who has been one of the dominant forces in the senior ranks since turning 50, signed for an eagle and six birdies while defending champion K.J. Choi and US Senior Open champion Padraig Harrington also made strong starts. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad South African duo Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, as well as Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, who holed out for an eagle-2 at the third, are also to the fore on a star-studded leaderboard. 'Good thing about being out here is that you feel you can win again' But, having already given a good account of himself in his two senior major appearances this year, Gallacher said: 'The good thing about being out here is that you feel you can compete and win again. 'When you were getting to 48 and 49 and playing well but just making the cut, it's a tough one mentally to get your head round. 'Out here the mindset is different. You are trying to get in contention on a Sunday and that's what you play golf for. It kind of rejuvenates you a bit.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
Hamilton Spectator
14-07-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Work-from-home starting to look more remote as companies get stricter on office time
TORONTO - It's not just students who will be commuting more this September. After years of experimentation with hybrid work, an increasing number of companies are whittling down days at home to one, or none at all. The push comes amid rising economic uncertainty that's leaving workers with less leverage and companies under pressure to boost productivity. Even as some experts point to a lack of evidence that more days in the office is good for business, corporate leaders are increasingly convinced it is. 'There are lots of clients who are slowly but surely increasing the in-office requirement,' said Alex Gallacher, managing director of Engage HR. Big banks including RBC, Scotiabank and BMO have mandated at least four days in office starting in September, while Canaccord Genuity is reportedly moving to five, mirroring moves earlier this year by U.S. giants Amazon and JPMorgan to also go all-in on the office. More moves are likely on the way, with 83 per cent of Canadian CEOs saying they expect to move back to full-time in the office within three years, according to a 2024 KPMG survey, a big jump from the 55 per cent who thought so in 2023. Companies have been citing all sorts of benefits to being in the office such as easier collaboration and teamwork, mentorship opportunities and better communication, while Gallacher sees it especially driven by companies trying to get workers on the same page. 'What's really driving it is culture,' said Gallacher. 'This desire to have a culture that is more cohesive, and that effectively supports what the business is trying to do strategically.' For customer-oriented services like banks, working together in person can help emphasize the people-oriented business they're trying to achieve, he said. Banks have said the same themselves, with RBC noting it was moving to more days in-office because it's a 'relationship-driven bank' whose in-person, human connection is core to its culture. Scotiabank noted the collaboration, engagement and career development benefits, as well as a stronger culture and sense of belonging as part of its reasoning. But companywide policies are a fairly blunt way to try and achieve results when location policies actually demand more nuance and specificity, said Linda Duxbury, chancellor's professor of management at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business. 'The decision makers are just making decisions, like the banks, everybody comes back, or the Government of Canada, three days ... it seems like very arbitrary decisions as opposed to doing the hard work necessary.' While companies aim to boost results, it's quite difficult to measure productivity or how well a return-to-office mandate, or home time, is working, said Duxbury. 'They don't have good performance metrics to measure the productivity of a lot of their knowledge workers,' she said. 'So to make the business case why this person can work from home and this one not, it takes a lot of work.' Some researchers have aimed to quantify the effects, such as a research paper out last year from Stanford University economist Nicholas Bloom that studied 1,600 workers at Chinese travel company . It found employees who worked two days a week at home were just as productive and likely to be promoted as their fully office-based peers, while turnover among them fell by a third. But even as some data supports hybrid work, companies are making the move because they're convinced the experiment isn't working, said Duxbury. 'They're not just on a whim going, well, hey, I'm going to really make everybody who works for me mad by making people come back in for five days. There's something triggering it.' A sense of culture, of the spirit holding a firm together, has come up a lot in her research, though it can also come down to managers not being able to get in contact with employees too many times, she said. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon didn't hold back when pointing to unreliable employees as one reason the firm moved back to fully in-office. He complained in a February town hall that he could never get ahold of anyone on Fridays, in a recording that was posted by Barron's. He also invited those who didn't like the policy to quit, underlining how retention is becoming less a concern than it was during the peak labour-shortage years of the pandemic. But while it might require broad policies to manage the more than 300,000 employees at JPMorgan, smaller firms seem to be finding it easier to navigate. The KPMG survey, for example, found that only 20 per cent of leaders of small- and medium-sized firms expect to go in-office full time. A big contributor to that trend is also the fight to find and keep talented staff, said Gallacher, noting the push toward more days in office isn't happening as much outside big cities, especially for firms needing more specialized positions. 'If you were to try and go hire a claims manager in the insurance world in southwestern Ontario right now, it is literally like pulling teeth.' But as trends shift and employee leverage fades, Gallacher said it's important to get clarity from any potential employer about what their plans are in terms of office work. 'It's probably as important as salary as a question in terms of, you know, can you manage your life.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 14, 2025. Companies in this story: (TSX:RY; TSX;BNS; TSX:BMO)
Winnipeg Free Press
14-07-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Work-from-home starting to look more remote as companies get stricter on office time
TORONTO – It's not just students who will be commuting more this September. After years of experimentation with hybrid work, an increasing number of companies are whittling down days at home to one, or none at all. The push comes amid rising economic uncertainty that's leaving workers with less leverage and companies under pressure to boost productivity. Even as some experts point to a lack of evidence that more days in the office is good for business, corporate leaders are increasingly convinced it is. 'There are lots of clients who are slowly but surely increasing the in-office requirement,' said Alex Gallacher, managing director of Engage HR. Big banks including RBC, Scotiabank and BMO have mandated at least four days in office starting in September, while Canaccord Genuity is reportedly moving to five, mirroring moves earlier this year by U.S. giants Amazon and JPMorgan to also go all-in on the office. More moves are likely on the way, with 83 per cent of Canadian CEOs saying they expect to move back to full-time in the office within three years, according to a 2024 KPMG survey, a big jump from the 55 per cent who thought so in 2023. Companies have been citing all sorts of benefits to being in the office such as easier collaboration and teamwork, mentorship opportunities and better communication, while Gallacher sees it especially driven by companies trying to get workers on the same page. 'What's really driving it is culture,' said Gallacher. 'This desire to have a culture that is more cohesive, and that effectively supports what the business is trying to do strategically.' For customer-oriented services like banks, working together in person can help emphasize the people-oriented business they're trying to achieve, he said. Banks have said the same themselves, with RBC noting it was moving to more days in-office because it's a 'relationship-driven bank' whose in-person, human connection is core to its culture. Scotiabank noted the collaboration, engagement and career development benefits, as well as a stronger culture and sense of belonging as part of its reasoning. But companywide policies are a fairly blunt way to try and achieve results when location policies actually demand more nuance and specificity, said Linda Duxbury, chancellor's professor of management at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business. 'The decision makers are just making decisions, like the banks, everybody comes back, or the Government of Canada, three days … it seems like very arbitrary decisions as opposed to doing the hard work necessary.' While companies aim to boost results, it's quite difficult to measure productivity or how well a return-to-office mandate, or home time, is working, said Duxbury. 'They don't have good performance metrics to measure the productivity of a lot of their knowledge workers,' she said. 'So to make the business case why this person can work from home and this one not, it takes a lot of work.' Some researchers have aimed to quantify the effects, such as a research paper out last year from Stanford University economist Nicholas Bloom that studied 1,600 workers at Chinese travel company It found employees who worked two days a week at home were just as productive and likely to be promoted as their fully office-based peers, while turnover among them fell by a third. But even as some data supports hybrid work, companies are making the move because they're convinced the experiment isn't working, said Duxbury. 'They're not just on a whim going, well, hey, I'm going to really make everybody who works for me mad by making people come back in for five days. There's something triggering it.' A sense of culture, of the spirit holding a firm together, has come up a lot in her research, though it can also come down to managers not being able to get in contact with employees too many times, she said. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon didn't hold back when pointing to unreliable employees as one reason the firm moved back to fully in-office. He complained in a February town hall that he could never get ahold of anyone on Fridays, in a recording that was posted by Barron's. He also invited those who didn't like the policy to quit, underlining how retention is becoming less a concern than it was during the peak labour-shortage years of the pandemic. But while it might require broad policies to manage the more than 300,000 employees at JPMorgan, smaller firms seem to be finding it easier to navigate. The KPMG survey, for example, found that only 20 per cent of leaders of small- and medium-sized firms expect to go in-office full time. A big contributor to that trend is also the fight to find and keep talented staff, said Gallacher, noting the push toward more days in office isn't happening as much outside big cities, especially for firms needing more specialized positions. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. 'If you were to try and go hire a claims manager in the insurance world in southwestern Ontario right now, it is literally like pulling teeth.' But as trends shift and employee leverage fades, Gallacher said it's important to get clarity from any potential employer about what their plans are in terms of office work. 'It's probably as important as salary as a question in terms of, you know, can you manage your life.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 14, 2025. Companies in this story: (TSX:RY; TSX;BNS; TSX:BMO)
