Getting a better college aid offer

And more of the week's best financial insight

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Here are three of the week's top pieces of financial insight, gathered from around the web:

Getting a better college aid offer

The rise of high-yield savings

It may be time to "break up with your bank," said Michael P. Regan in Bloomberg Businessweek. The introduction of a 4.15 percent savings account from Apple and Goldman Sachs knocks "another brick out of the wall of inertia protecting traditional banks" from having to raise their own rates. Bankrate.com is one of almost two dozen other online banks sporting yields on savings above 4 percent, and the highest rate being offered now is 5.02 percent. By comparison, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America "pay as little as 0.01 percent" — yes, you read that right, one-hundredth of 1 percent — on basic savings deposits. It may not make sense to ditch traditional banks entirely just for the sake of yield, but you can stick "with one bank for your regular bill-paying, checking, and cash needs," and push "the excess into a better-paying online account."

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Lobbying to keep noncompetes

Business groups are ramping up their campaign against a federal plan to ban noncompete agreements, said J.J. McCorvey and Sara Ruberg at NBC News. "The lobbying crossfire comes in addition to more than 26,000 comments from the public" gathered last week by the Federal Trade Commission, which says barring noncompetes will boost workers' earnings. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce last week sent a letter signed by 280 organizations arguing that noncompetes encourage investment in employees. Small-business owners have also voiced concern. "There is absolutely no incentive for me to teach anyone anything I know," wrote one medical practitioner, "only to have them move into the neighborhood and compete against me."

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