Though savings accounts don't get the attention they once did, savings accounts are an important part of not only your day-to-day financial planning, but also your retirement plan. Savings accounts allow you a risk-free way to put money aside, be it for tomorrow or for a retirement many years away. In exchange for extreme safety (up to $250,000 per account per bank is FDIC insured), you typically give up any opportunity for significant financial gain. Instead, you receive a nominal rate of interest in your savings accounts.
Savings accounts retain their importance because it is always critical to have money set aside for emergencies. An emergency could occur for any one of a number of reasons including job loss, car accident (to pay the deductible), medical issue (there's that deductible again), or unexpected home repair. When you need money fast, you don't want to have to put the expense on a credit card. You also don't want to need to sell a stock or another volatile investment to come up with the necessary funds. After all, it's unlikely you were otherwise planning to sell the affected investment the day you sold.
The existence of an emergency fund in savings accounts allows you to save more aggressively for retirement during your working career than you could otherwise. Furthermore, savings accounts allow you to sleep better at night when you are already in retirement.