Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) ETF Lineup Keeps Expanding

Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) ETF Lineup Keeps Expanding Some investors like to break down their portfolio into several different asset and sub-asset classes. One long-standing example of the “slice-and-dice” is the “Ultimate Buy-and-Hold Portfolio” recommended by Paul Merriman (see pie chart; expanded labels below). You don’t need to hold every one of these asset classes, but when held in combination they historically offer a higher return with lower volatility.

S&P 500 (US Large Cap Blend)
US Large Value
US Small
US Small Value
US REIT
International Large Cap Blend
International US Large Value
International Small
International Small Value
Emerging Markets
Short-term/Intermediate-term Bonds

For a long time, Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) offered some of the best lower-cost mutual funds tracking these types of sub-asset classes, but they also required you to invest through a DFA-affiliated financial advisor (and pay the accompanying management fees). Eventually, some former DFA executives and employees broke off and started Avantis ETFs, which are available to any investor with a brokerage accounts and offered a good DFA alternative. Avantis’ assets under management have been growing…

Lo and behold, DFA has just announced a big expansion of their DFA ETF lineup. Competition works!

Newly-listed DFA Bond ETFs

Dimensional Core Fixed Income ETF (DFCF)
Dimensional Short-Duration Fixed Income ETF (DFSD)
Dimensional National Municipal Bond ETF (DFNM)
Dimensional Inflation-Protected Securities ETF (DFIP)

Future DFA Equity ETFs

International Core Equity 2 ETF
Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF
US Small Cap Value ETF
International Small Cap ETF
International Small Cap Value ETF
Emerging Markets Value ETF
US High Profitability ETF
International High Profitability ETF
Emerging Markets High Profitability ETF
US Real Estate ETF

Existing DFA ETFs

Dimensional US Core Equity Market ETF (DFAU)
Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF (DFAI)
Dimensional Emerging Core Equity Market ETF (DFAE)
Dimensional US Core Equity 2 ETF (DFAC)
Dimensional US Equity ETF (DFUS)
Dimensional US Small Cap ETF (DFAS)
Dimensional US Targeted Value ETF (DFAT)
Dimensional International Value ETF (DFIV)
Dimensional World ex US Core Equity 2 ETF (DFAX)

Some of the confusing names are a result of these ETFs being conversions from the old mutual fund versions. Even though I try to keep things relatively simple and humble, I welcome these new investment options to the competitive marketplace along with their reasonably-low expense ratios. I may even switch my TIPS holdings to the DFA TIPS ETF (DFIP), as it is cheaper than the iShares TIPS Bond ETF (TIP).

I use Vanguard for my “core” index funds, but about 10% of my total portfolio is split between US Small Value and International/Emerging Small Value stocks. I recently bought/rebalanced into some of the new Avantis International Small Cap Value ETF (AVDV), but will keep an eye on the new DFA version. I suppose they could be a tax-loss harvesting ETF pair, but I have them inside a tax-sheltered account.

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Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) ETF Lineup Keeps Expanding from My Money Blog.