April is Financial Literacy Month so I’m talking about some general personal finance topics that might be of interest to you and your students. Today I’m writing about the savings hierarchy: what savings accounts should you have, and what goes into each one?

The savings hierarchy fits within the overall hierarchy of financial needs. You’ve seen these types of pyramids everywhere; here is one for personal finance:

(Thanks to Visual Capitalist)

The bottom layer of the financial needs pyramid is cash flow and basic needs: housing, food, transportation, healthcare, and other nondiscretionary expenses.

The next step after basic needs is your safety net: enough liquid savings to get you through an emergency. For a family, 3–6 months’ expenses is a good target; young people with fewer fixed expenses and more flexibility might be able to get by with a little less. We recommend using high-yield savings accounts for your emergency fund — top accounts are currently earning around 4% APY, compared to the national average of just 0.39% for traditional savings accounts. Good options include online banks like Marcus, Ally, SoFi, and Wealthfront, among others. Beyond the higher rate, it’s also helpful to have a little separation between your savings and your everyday spending accounts.

Next comes wealth accumulation: saving for the long term, especially retirement. This means not just increasing savings but also reducing consumer debt and focusing your finances on the future — what do you want to do with your time on this earth — rather than the past: paying off debt or dealing with the consequences of earlier decisions.

Wealth accumulation leads to financial freedom. After all, true wealth is really more about time than money: being able to choose how you spend your time, whether that’s work or pleasure. Financial freedom allows you to plan for your children’s college educations, take vacations or even sabbaticals, and start to plan for risks that might jeopardize your financial security.

Finally, your legacy comes into play. What mark do you want to leave on the world? Do you have assets — personal or business — that you’d like to plan for?

In practical terms for families planning for college, here are some rules of thumb:

  • If you don’t have emergency savings, or a means to get 3–6 months’ expenses quickly, that is your #1 priority and needs to be addressed first.
  • If you’re not maxing out retirement savings, make sure you’re doing at least enough to get an employer match (if offered) before saving for other priorities.
  • If you’re somewhere between the full employer match and maxing out retirement — the 2026 limit is $24,500 for those under 50, $32,500 for those 50 and older, and $35,750 for those ages 60–63 under the SECURE 2.0 “super catch-up” provision— then your annual college savings should not exceed 10% of your annual retirement savings. If you want to save more for college, save more for retirement first and bump up both rates over time.
  • Only when you’re maxing out retirement should you think about maxing out college savings. Start by targeting your state’s annual tax-deductible 529 contribution amount, since in most cases saving at that rate will put you in good shape to have a lot of affordable college choices.

Most important of all: the four points above are rules of thumb — ways of thinking about things. Your situation may have nuances that aren’t accounted for in these basics, like a large pension. The hierarchy itself, however, is a rule, not a rule of thumb. Emergency first, then retirement, then college.