Morgan Stanley breakaway team forms $215 million RIA in N.J.

QP Wealth Management in Eatontown, N.J. joins the breakaway trend by leaving Morgan Stanley to establish a registered investment adviser with $215 million in client assets. Co-founders James Lloyd, Thomas Leidner and Lisa Heerwagen partnered with Whitney Struble to form the new RIA. QP Wealth Management operates as a comprehensive advisory firm offering portfolio management, wealth strategies, estate planning, family governance, business succession, tax planning, and philanthropy management, among other services. Mr. Lloyd, who is chief executive and co-chief investment officer, credits consulting firm TruClarity with helping to engineer the transition to independence. "Aligning with TruClarity has allowed us to turn our dream of owning our own independent wealth management firm into a reality as a team," he said. (More:​ Former brokers say breaking away to be RIA went better than they feared) TruClarity president and chief operating officer Shad Besikof said QP's focus on wealth clients and alternative investments will give the new RIA a competitive advantage. "Now, in the independent space, QP has access to a wider range of private investment vehicles that had not been available to them in the captive wirehouse world," he said.