The Appleton Group is proud to announce our merger into Johnson Financial Group, effective October 1, 2023.

Please click on video to watch our announcement by CEO and Founder, Mark Scheffler…

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The Appleton Group is a fee-only, independent Registered Investment Advisor offering objective, unbiased wealth management, research and investment advisory services. As a mid-sized privately held firm, we work to help private clients, employer-sponsored retirement plans, non-profit endowments and financial institutions build and manage more predictable, sustainable and profitable portfolios over time.

As a trusted fiduciary, we have an obligation to help our clients meet their long-term financial goals, while minimizing investment expenses and encountering only prudent risks along the way.

Appleton Group strives to be the region’s most admired wealth advisor, serving our clients with honesty, independence, and integrity.

You are welcome here!

We Serve…

Private Clients

Whether you’re saving for retirement, looking for lifetime income, or are interested in multi-generational planning, Appleton Group has you covered

Employer-Sponsored Plans

Appleton Group 401(k) is a professionally-managed, cost effective employer-sponsored retirement plan solution that you and your participants will love

Non-Profit Endowments

We’ve created Appleton Group Charitable to help Wisconsin non-profits better manage their existing endowment portfolios

Beginner’s Guide to Flexible Investment Strategies…

Whether you’ve been a client of ours for years or are just starting out, we’ve created this “Beginner’s Guide to Flexible Strategies” to help you better understand how they work, how they’re intentionally different from buy & hold strategies, and how they can best fit into your overall investment portfolio. We’ll also cover their limitations, and what they’re not designed to do.

It’s a quick 6-part course, with each chapter lasting around 5 minutes. So grab something to drink, maybe a snack and a blanket, and invest a half hour in getting more knowledgeable about Appleton Group’s suite of flexible investment strategies.

00:00 – Introduction 04:24 – Part 1 – Basics of Investing 10:16 – Part 2 – Basics of Traditional Strategies 14:24 – Part 3 – Adding Flexibility 20:27 – Part 4 – On the Right Side of the Market™ 26:39 – Part 5 – Limitations: What Flexible Strategies Are Not 31:40 – Part 6 – Best Practices and Getting Started

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Discover Appleton Group’s Hybrid Investment Strategies…

Just like there are traditional, hybrid and electric cars, there are three very similar investment strategies that we offer: traditional strategies (also known as “buy & hold,”), flexible strategies (which are novel and cutting edge in that they automatically adjust as market conditions change), and hybrid strategies that combine both traditional and flexible strategies together into a single diversified portfolio.

Let’s talk about Hybrid strategies for a bit, because we really think that they’re worth considering for nearly every investor.

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Subscribe to the On the Right Side of the Market™ Podcast

Investing is pretty straightforward: the more time you spend on the right side of the market, the more likely you are to be successful.

Join Mark Scheffler, CEO of Appleton Group LLC, a SEC Registered Investment Adviser, for fresh market commentary, current investment trends and recent market turns.

Now available on most major podcast platforms, including Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Audible, Amazon Music, Google, Castbox, Overcast, Anchor, and Radio Public.

CLICK HERE to subscribe on your favorite platform…

“To our clients, we thank you for your loyal business over the years. If you are new to the Appleton Group, we welcome you. We hope to forge a long lasting relationship that is mutually beneficial and brings value in the greater community around us. YOU ARE WELCOME HERE!”

Mark C. Scheffler CEO, Founder

Ask a Question – In Fact, We Encourage It…

Our typical clients are either:

  • Private Clients (Individuals and/or Families)

  • Retirement Plan Sponsors (such as corporations or government entities)

  • Non-Profit Endowments, and

  • Other Financial Institutions

Appleton Group’s private client services are robust, and include investment management, strategy selection and monitoring, retirement sustainability analysis, tax-minimization guidance, multi-generational wealth strategies, and more.  These services are typically used by individuals and families with total assets ranging from $25 thousand to $25 million.

Appleton Group serves as an ERISA 3(38) or 3(21) Fiduciary, which are the highest levels of service to retirement plan sponsors.  We coordinate all aspects of a successful retirement plan, including investment selection and monitoring, administrative oversight, participant education, and sponsor services.

Appleton Group Charitable offers a turnkey endowment management solution for non-profit organizations. This includes organizing your endowments structure and goals, formalizing your endowment governance in accordance with the Wisconsin Unified Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act, implementing a prudent investment management program, and monitoring your progress and compliance along the way.

Many of our firm’s risk-managed and hybrid strategies are available through a variety of other platforms and can be offered by independent advisors across the country. We are currently available through Mid Atlantic Capital Group (Manager Exchange), and through Charles Schwab (Managed Account Marketplace). Please contact us if you’d like to add us to your platform…

It depends, and it’s probably less than you might think.  For retirement plan sponsors, our annual fees range from 0.50% to as much as 0.70% (which includes full fiduciary services, participant education, administration oversight, sponsor support, etc.).

For private clients services, our annual fees generally range from 1.00% to 1.40% depending on the strategies you choose and the complexity of your particular financial situation.  These fees are most often charged directly to your managed account(s).

For non-profits, we offer institutional rates that are extremely competitive, and start at only 0.50% per year. This includes all fiduciary services, including investment policy statement creation, WUPMIFA consulting, Board training, and donor engagement services.

For other financial institutions and independent advisors, our risk-managed and hybrid strategies are available at a low annual rate starting at 0.50% per year.

And you’ll find that our underlying investment expenses are among the lowest in the industry, often as low as 0.07%. That’s great value!

There are a number of excellent, independent Registered investment Advisors (RIAs) in the State that you might compare us to.  In fact, we’d be more than happy to give you the names and phone numbers of any number of similar firms in Wisconsin at your request.  Wisconsin has many solid advisors and investment managers to choose from, and it’s not at all unusual for us to include other in-state talent in a portfolio (especially in our employer-sponsored retirement plans).

Occasionally, investors might confuse a Registered Investment Advisor (like Appleton Group) with a brokerage firm.  But it’s important to know that brokers are paid to sell securities, which we don’t do.  Instead, we’re required as a fiduciary to offer objective advice and guidance that’s always in your best interest, and for that important service we’re paid fairly and with complete transparency at all times.  Investors who are just starting out can be served well by brokers; but for clients with larger portfolios, a Registered investment Advisor is often a distinctly better choice.