Michael Liersch

Chief Planning Officer

Michael Liersch is Chief Planning Officer at Edelman Financial Engines. He leads the firm’s investment management, technology, product, and AI teams, with the focus of building innovative solutions and experiences across EFE’s businesses for both employees and clients.

Michael joined EFE in August 2025 after more than two decades in financial services and academia. His specialty is behavioral finance: how people make financial decisions, and how advice can help them make better ones. Most recently, he was Head of Advice & Planning at Wells Fargo. He has also held leadership positions at J.P. Morgan Chase as the Head of Wealth Planning and Advice and at both Merrill Lynch and Barclays Americas as the Head of Behavioral Finance. Earlier in his career, he was a visiting professor at New York University, where he conducted original research and taught management and organizational analysis.

His work has been published in leading academic journals, and he’s a frequent media contributor on behavioral finance and financial planning. Michael holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University and a PhD in cognitive psychology from the University of California, San Diego.