Financial advisors John Gallagher and Mark Levin have launched Maverick Partners Wealth Management in Marlton, N.J., by partnering with Gladstone Wealth Partners and joining LPL Financial’s broker-dealer and corporate RIA platform, the companies announced today in a news release.

The duo was formerly with the Morgan Stanley wirehouse, where they managed about $2 billion in advisory, brokerage and retirement plan assets. Both Gallagher and Levin have a combined 65 years of industry experience.

“To make this move now, during a global pandemic and in the midst of market uncertainties, was a huge, carefully calculated decision,” Gallagher said in the release. “We are entrepreneurs at heart and have decided to build a business that is our own, where we can be fiduciaries and keep our clients’ best interests at the forefront of everything we do.”

The two men have been partners since 2013 and are assisted by a four-member office support staff.

Levin said their partnership with LPL and Gladstone gives them a platform to build a high-end, boutique firm that can support their clients’ comprehensive financial needs. 

“We are excited to be in a fiduciary role where we can build out the practice and expand relationships with CPAs and attorneys,” Levin said. “The open architecture of LPL’s platform, along with the ability to choose our own partners, allows us to extend our team of experienced professionals to provide clients with a total package for all their financial needs.”

Richard Frick, managing partner and CEO at Gladstone Wealth Partners, an LPL affiliate based in Chester, N.J., was a colleague at Morgan Stanley when all three worked there. Gallagher and Levin said that relationship played a large role in their decision to partner with Gladstone and LPL. 

“All of us at Gladstone Wealth Partners congratulate Mark and John on their transition to independence,” Frick said in the news release. “They have been one of the premier teams at Morgan Stanley for decades. Their move to independence represents the continuing trend of successful, high-net-worth teams gaining independence to have more control over how they run their businesses and how they serve their clients.”

LPL Financial, headquartered in Fort Mill, S.C., San Diego and Boston, is a retail investment advisory firm, registered investment advisor (RIA) custodian, and the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer.