Best high-yield savings accounts for 2025

I love answering your questions and Danielle in Austin, Texas, wrote, “I see online banks that offer really high interest rates. Are they safe? My bank doesn’t even pay 1%!”

High-yield savings accounts (HYSAs) online earn much higher interest rates than what big-name banks like Chase or Wells Fargo offer. I wouldn’t go with just any online bank, though. 

Stick with the established names, and make sure your deposits are FDIC-insured. Even if the bank fails, you’re covered up to $250,000 per depositor, per account type. 

Here are four major online banks 

These are FDIC-insured, have no monthly fees and no minimum deposit requirement. The differences boil down to interest rates, ATM access, number of withdrawals allowed per month and customer service.

📌 Marcus by Goldman Sachs – APY: 3.90%

  • Withdrawal Limitations: No specified limit on the number of withdrawals per month​
  • Accessibility: No ATM access or physical branches; online and mobile banking available
  • Customer Service: 24/7 customer support via phone and chat

📌 Ally Bank – APY: 4.35%

  • Withdrawal Limitations: Federal regulations limit certain types of withdrawals to six per statement cycle​
  • Accessibility: No physical branches; extensive ATM network and mobile banking with check deposit​
  • Customer Service: 24/7 customer support via phone, chat and email

📌 Capital One 360 Performance Savings – APY: 3.70%

  • Withdrawal Limitations: No specified limit on the number of withdrawals per month​
  • Accessibility: Physical branches and Capital One Cafés; online and mobile banking with check deposit​
  • Customer Service: Available via phone and in person during branch hours​

📌 American Express High Yield Savings – APY: 3.70%

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Selling your car? Do this first

New cars are computers on wheels, tracking just as much about you as your phone does. Before you sell your car or return a lease, you need to take the time to wipe all that data.

Otherwise, you’re handing over a digital diary of your life to anyone who knows where to look. Your car tracks where you’ve been, how fast you got there, your contacts and text messages and what radio stations you listen to most. Don’t let that info go along for the ride!

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To share or not to share? Moms like Cait Scudder asked that question before posting a video of her water birth at home. She says it got 99% positive feedback, and other moms said it helped by being real and honest. Just keep in mind that not everyone may react kindly. 

AI’s secret language

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. One AI bot calls up another, and they chat back and forth in English. Once they realize they’re both AI, they switch to a secret-to-them language totally undecipherable to human ears. No punchline, because it’s not a joke. A viral video from an AI hackathon in London shows the exchange.

$4 million

Listing price for the “Breaking Bad” house. The 1,900-square-foot home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was Walter White’s in the show and worth closer to $400K. Even 12 years after the show ended, about 300 cars drive past every day to see it, and the owners can’t take it anymore.  

Think your browser’s password manager is safe? Think again.

It’s so easy to click and save your passwords right to Chrome, Edge, Safari or any other browser. Have you ever stopped to think about just how bad an idea it is to do this? Anyone with access to your browser can jump right into any one of your accounts. Yup, even your banking and investment accounts are up for grabs.

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🏠 $20K for a two-bedroom home? This isn’t the 1960s. It’s a tiny home that comes folded in a box, complete with a porch, kitchen and bathroom. One model sold out on Amazon thanks to viral videos with over 20 million views. Read the reviews if you’re tempted to buy one. Some models have low ceilings, no electrical outlets and no instructions to build them.

The future is clear: Meta’s new Aria Gen 2 glasses check your heart rate, and more health tools are coming. They’re working with Envision to help folks who are blind walk around safely with the glasses’ AI assistant. If that’s you or someone in your life, sign up here for updates.

Will AI surpass us in 2026? Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, thinks we’ll achieve the singularity — when AI passes human intelligence. Around 8,590 scientists think it’ll be closer to 2040. A few years ago, they thought it would be 2060. Keep reading the singularitea leaves. (I heard you groan).

📱 Ring, ring, it’s not IT: If you get a call from your help desk or IT asking for a password reset, check if it’s legit. Scammers are getting good at tricking people over the phone to sneak into their systems. CrowdStrike found voice vishing scams (that’s voice phishing) jumped 442% last year. 

🧠 Mind over matter: It’s been a year since Noland Arbaugh became the first Neuralink patient. I chatted with him last year, and he’s so positive. The procedure was done in Phoenix. The team just shared a video of how the N1 Implant helps him control gadgets just by thinking. Check it out here.

🚀 3, 2, 1, liftoff: Katy Perry, Gayle King and Lauren Sanchez (Jeff Bezos’ girlfriend) are joining an all-female crew on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket this spring. They’ll float in zero gravity for about 10 minutes. Spoiler: Lauren’s going to wear something revealing to strike a froze. 

Alexa+ is ready for a price: The new Amazon AI can guess a movie based on clues. Ask for “that one with the sparkling vampires,” and it pulls up “Twilight.” It’s getting integrated with thousands of apps, too, so you can do things like order an Uber without lifting a finger. I expect more skills for $240 a year!

🔥 Laundry just got worse: If your machine is running slower than usual or having trouble starting, don’t ignore it. A woman’s LG washing machine burst into flames even though it was turned off. Firefighters say the usual culprit is the capacitor, which stays on and can cause a short.

Whiskey business: A bottle of rare 81-year-old Macallan scotch is selling for $649,999. No wonder alcohol counterfeiting is so big. Criminals make bank refilling authentic bottles with cheap stuff. Not anymore! New tech embeds a molecular marker in the seal of each verified bottle so collectors don’t get duped. Authenticated bottles get a blockchain record you can check. Now that’s a barrel of laughs.

💪🇺🇸 The only easy day was yesterday: Special ops commanders went to DC to explain that America’s military tech, especially AI, machine learning, autonomous weapons and cyber warfare, is way behind our adversaries. China and Russia are investing heavily in AI-driven battlefield awareness, drone swarms and cyber capabilities. We have to do the same.

Mind over matter

It’s been a year since Noland Arbaugh became the first Neuralink patient. I chatted with him last year, and he’s so positive. The procedure was done in Phoenix. The team just shared a video of how the N1 Implant helps him control gadgets just by thinking.

1 billion people

Watching podcasts on YouTube. Their monthly numbers blow Spotify and every other streaming service in the podcast game out of the water. Yup, you can watch my show there

2 years old

When 40% of kiddos have their own tablet. Nearly 1 in 4 have a cellphone by the time they turn 8. Average screen time? Too much at 2.5 hours a day.

Alexa really is getting smarter: Amazon rolled out the new Alexa+. You’ll be able to search Ring footage and upload docs, like your kid’s soccer schedule. Alexa will put the dates on your cal and snacks on the shopping list. Cost? Free with Prime or $20 a month without.