Office address: 3315 Scott Blvd, 4th Floor, Santa Clara, CA 95054
Website: edelmanfinancialengines.com
Year established: 1986
Company type: financial services
Employees: 1,600+
Expertise: financial planning, retirement planning, investment management, insurance guidance, tax planning, estate planning, wealth management, 401(k) provision, workplace financial wellness, retirement income solutions, portfolio optimization
Parent company: Hellman & Friedman
Key people: Ralph Haberli (CEO), Suzanne van Staveren (CFO), Michael Liersch (chief planning officer), Megan Hanley (CMO), Neil Gilfedder (CIO), Allison Amadia (chief legal and risk officer), Amin Dabit (head of wealth planning)
Financing status: private equity-backed
Edelman Financial Engines (EFE) is a wealth planning firm based in Santa Clara. It serves over 1.3 million clients and managed $308 billion as of June 2025. It delivers retirement, tax, investment, and estate planning through a network of 140 offices.
Ric and Jean Edelman co-founded their advisory firm Edelman Financial Services in 1986 to serve everyday investors. Charting a separate course, Nobel Prize-winning economist William Sharpe co-founded Financial Engines in 1996. He aimed to help workers manage 401(k) plans as companies shifted away from traditional pensions.
The two businesses eventually merged in 2018 to create Edelman Financial Engines. The rise of the internet in Silicon Valley also helped these founders reach more people.
But before this major union, Financial Engines bought The Mutual Fund Store in 2016 to expand its capabilities. Hellman & Friedman, a private equity firm, then acquired the company and merged it with Edelman Financial Services in 2018. This union created a unified infrastructure that combined high-tech tools with personal financial planning.
A few years later, EFE added Viridian Advisors, Smart Investor, and other partners to grow its reach. The organization welcomed Cahill Wealth Management into its network during the early months of 2025.
Later that year, Edelman Financial Engines acquired Hasenberg Financial Group to further expand its national footprint. These additions marked a continued effort to strengthen the firm's service capabilities for the future.
EFE combines human advice with patented technology to build personalized wealth plans. Its advisors use institutional-grade modeling tools to help individuals reach their financial goals:
The firm models thousands of securities to simulate potential outcomes for portfolios. Advisors at Edelman Financial Engines also provide support for every life stage from first paychecks to legacy planning.
Edelman Financial Engines states its purpose is helping people thrive. The firm reports that it uses collaboration, not competition, in its work culture. According to the company, four core values guide its culture:
Edelman Financial Engines also uses a market-based pay structure. Salaries depend on experience, skills, and geographic location. Eligible employees may also receive these additional benefits:
Along with these benefits, employees may participate in an inclusive environment. EFE supports diverse perspectives through resource groups like BEACON, Women in Leadership, and ENABLED.
Ralph Haberli has served as the president and CEO of Edelman Financial Engines since November 2025. He previously led the institutional and retirement client group as president at Capital Group. Haberli holds an MBA from Northwestern University and a history degree from Yale University.
The following key executives help Haberli lead Edelman Financial Engines:
The leadership team aims to improve every client's financial journey. Everyone at the firm works to help investors build wealth.
When Edelman Financial Engines appointed Michael Liersch as its first chief planning officer, it sharpened its focus on delivering unified financial advice. The firm tasked him with merging planning strategies, educational resources, and personalized guidance for all clients. This move shows EFE's commitment to creating future-ready solutions that integrate technology with human insight.
The company has seen other major leadership changes as it shifts its focus toward sustainable, organic growth. The firm eventually appointed Ralph Haberli as CEO in November 2025 to steer this strategy after its private equity owners halted potential sale efforts.
Management aims to leverage its managed account leadership to expand access to advice through new digital tools. An initial public offering remains a possible path for Edelman Financial Engines to create liquidity for its investors.
Brendan Kenny’s move from Edelman Financial Engines comes with a temporary restraining order tied to the firms’ broader advisor-poaching lawsuit against Prime Capital Financial, which says Edelman has been acting anticompetitively.
The lawsuit comes amid a string of recent cyberattacks against wealth firms including Mercer Advisors, Edelman Financial Engines, Beacon Pointe, CW Advisors, Betterment, Pathstone, EP Wealth, Cetera and Ameriprise.
TRO bars Joan Greenspon and Amanda Salyer from reaching out to hundreds of former Edelman clients representing more than $300 million in assets, who left the mega-RIA following the advisors' departures in February.
The $326 billion mega-RIA is committing $175 million in equity to advisors as firms across the industry increasingly use ownership stakes to recruit and retain talent.
Meanwhile, Janney lands a billion-dollar team from Merrill in Delaware, and two longtime Edelman advisors hopped to Prime Capital Financial in the Northeast.
Meanwhile, Composition Wealth adds a Hightower leader to its C-suite, and a veteran executive from Osaic comes to bolster Lenox Advisors' planning capabilities.
New Chandler office strengthens firm’s Southwest foothold for advisors and clients alike.
Mega-firms are hardwiring portfolio, planning and estate tools into their core platforms to defend market share and deepen high‑net‑worth relationships.
A record 322 M&A transactions in 2025 shattered the previous deal flow pace in the RIA market, but DeVoe & Company’s report shows the surge further concentrated power among a handful of dominant firms.
Also, a veteran from Edelman has decamped to Baird, while UBS scoops an experienced Morgan Stanley advisor in the Pacific Northwest.
Bob Lavigne’s arrival as CCO formalizes a dual-compliance structure following the launch of Hightower Signature Wealth to consolidate RIAs under a single brand.
Veteran compliance executive joins as firm expands, modernizes regulatory and risk governance platform.
The veteran executive will oversee advisor development and planning infrastructure as the Chicago-based RIA leans harder into tax-driven strategies.
Focus Financial says its latest CEO change was part of a succession plan, but the $520 billion RIA's transition gives the market only about seven weeks of public notice.
Nearly half of people surveyed by Edelman Financial Engines want to reinvent retirement even as money, inflation, and Social Security fears weigh on their plans.
