Much has been made about the tough environment for fledging fund firms, but some appear to be undeterred. Mark Scheffler, a Wisconsin native and former music teacher, is one of them.

Scheffler recently cut the ribbon on the Appleton Group Funds, a two-fund family that is the Badger State's second fund group. The unlikely launch was recently reported by the Post Crescent, a local Wisconsin paper.

The funds are advised by the Appleton Group, an RIA founded by Scheffler that has $42.3 million in assets under management for 52 clients.

The Appleton Group Fund and The Appleton Group PLUS Fund will invest approximately 20 percent of total fund assets in ETFs such as DIAMONDS and QQQQs and approximately 15 percent in SPIDERS. Smaller allocations of fund portfolios will go to ETFs like the iShares Russell 2000 Growth Index Fund and the iShares Russell 2000 Value Index Fund. The PLUS fund will invest with the goal of being market neutral and will also short ETFs, according to the funds' prospectus.

The funds -- like many newbies -- have a high expense ratio. Both funds, post-waivers, have total operating expenses of 200 basis points.

While Scheffler is a newbie to the fund industry, he has been managing funds for separate accounts in the same style as the two funds for Appleton Group. Prior to founding the firm, he was vice president of Robert W. Baird's Appleton, Wisconsin office.  

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