Dimensional Fund Advisors

American private investment firm

Dimensional Fund Advisors

Company type| Private
Industry| Finance
Founded| 1981; 43 years ago (1981)
Founders| David G. Booth
Rex Sinquefield
Headquarters| Austin, Texas, United States

Key people

| David G. Booth
(Executive Chairman)
Dave Butler
(Co-CEO)
Gerard K. O'Reilly
(Co-CEO)
Products| Money Management and Investment
AUM|  $677 billion (Dec 31, 2023)[1]

Number of employees

| 1,600+ (2023)[2]
Website| www.dimensional.com

Dimensional Fund Advisors, L.P. (branded Dimensional abbreviated DFA[3]) is a privately-owned investment firm headquartered in Austin, Texas. Dimensional was founded in Brooklyn[4] in 1981 by David Booth, Rex Sinquefield and Larry Klotz. The company has affiliates within 15 offices in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, and Japan.[5] Dimensional maintains additional U.S. offices in Charlotte, North Carolina and Santa Monica, California.

The company’s founders studied at the University of Chicago under Eugene Fama. Kenneth French is co-chair of the firm's investment research committee.[6] DFA's investment strategy is based on application of the efficient market hypothesis.[7] Dimensional was one of the earliest firms to offer passive investing and "runs the oldest small-cap index fund" in the United States.[8] However, the firm's versions of index funds have the flexibility to trade daily[9] and skew towards smaller company stocks and value stocks; They operate differently from most index funds which rebalance on specific dates and are weighted by market capitalization.[10] This strategy results in regulators, such as the SEC,[11] and some analysts[12][13][14] describing the funds as actively managed. The company offers equity and fixed income mutual funds, Exchange-traded funds, separately managed accounts, and model portfolios.

In 2009, Dimensional acquired SmartNest, a retirement planning computer software company.[15] Researcher Robert C. Merton left SmartNest's board after the purchase and became a Resident Scientist at Dimensional.[16][17][18]

In November 2020, the firm announced it was augmenting its strictly advisor-access[19] and institutional[20] only mutual fund business model by offering openly-accessed exchange-traded funds.[21][22][23][24]

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Dimensional Investing". Retrieved 2024-01-25.
2. ^ "Dimensional: About Us".
3. ^ "FORM N-CSR CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF REGISTERED MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES: DFA INVESTMENT DIMENSIONS GROUP INC". sec.gov. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
4. ^ "David Booth: Biography".
5. ^ "Dimensional: About Us".
6. ^ "Kenneth French: Bio".
7. ^ "Dimensional Investing | Dimensional Fund Advisors". Dimensional. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
8. ^ William J. Bernstein (2002). The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio. McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0071385290, p. 103
9. ^ "Dimensional Fund Advisors Lists Active Exchange-Traded Funds".
10. ^ John Rekenthaler (Nov 25, 2020) DFA Is Paying the Price for Its Conviction. Morningstar.com, accessed 19 March 2021
11. ^ "Registration statement - DIMENSIONAL ETF TRUST". SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION. 16 November 2020.
12. ^ "DFAU ETF Report". etf.com. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
13. ^ Liu, Evie (18 November 2020). "Another Fund Manager Enters the World of Exchange-Traded Funds. What's Behind the Trend". Barrons.
14. ^ Lydon, Tom (December 28, 2020). "The ETF-Mutual Fund Tide is Turning: DFAI and DFAU Switching Sides".
15. ^ Inklebarger, Timothy (2009-12-02). "Dimensional adds retirement planning software firm". Pensions & Investments. Retrieved 2013-05-12.
16. ^ "Curriculum Vitae". www.robertcmerton.com. Robert C Merton. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
17. ^ "Robert Merton". Becker Friedman Institute.
18. ^ "Next Generation Retirement Planning" (PDF).
19. ^ "Work With Us: Financial Advisors".
20. ^ "Work With Us: Institutions".
21. ^ "Why Dimensional Fund Advisors is converting six of its mutual funds to the ETF format". CNBC. December 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
22. ^ "DFA Takes The Stage With ETFs". etf.com. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
23. ^ "Dimensional Fund ETFs Launch as Quant Plans to Convert Mutual Funds". Bloomberg News. 18 November 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
24. ^ Johnson, Steve (23 November 2020). "Mutual fund conversions to ETFs set to gather momentum, experts say". Financial Times.

## External links[edit]

* Official site
* Fama/French Forum
* David Booth Interviews

* v
* t
* e

Major asset management companies

| Americas|

| Canada|

* Brookfield
* CI Financial
* Fiera Capital
* Guardian Capital Group
* Mackenzie Investments
* Manulife
* Power Financial
* Sun Life Financial

|

USA|

* Affiliated Managers Group
* AllianceBernstein
* Allspring
* Ameriprise Financial
* BlackRock
* BNY Mellon Investment Management
* Capital Group
* Charles Schwab
* Columbia Threadneedle
* Dimensional
* Dodge & Cox
* Edward Jones
* Federated Hermes
* Fidelity Investments
* Franklin Templeton
* Geode Capital
* Invesco
* MFS
* New York Life Investments
* Neuberger Berman
* NISA
* Northern Trust
* Nuveen
* PGIM
* Principal
* PIMCO
* State Street Global Advisors
* T. Rowe Price
* Vanguard Group
* Wellington Management

EMEA|

| France|

* Amundi
* AXA Investment Managers
* BNP Paribas Asset Management
* Natixis Investment Managers
* Ostrum Asset Management

|

Germany|

* Allianz Global Investors
* DWS Group
* Union Investment
* Universal Investment

Italy|

* Anima Holding
* ARCA Fondi SGR
* Assicurazioni Generali
* Azimut Holding
* Eurizon Capital

South Africa|

* Allan Gray
* Coronation Fund Managers
* Ninety One

UK|

* Abrdn
* Aviva Investors
* Baillie Gifford
* Insight Investment
* Janus Henderson
* Legal & General
* Man Group
* Newton Investment Management
* M&G
* Royal London Asset Management
* Schroders

Others|

* Aegon
* Fidelity International
* GAM
* Robeco

Asia Pacific|

| Australia|

* AMP Capital
* First Sentier Investors
* IFM Investors
* Magellan Financial Group
* Perpetual

|

China|

* Bosera Asset Management
* China Asset Management
* China Southern Asset Management
* China Universal Asset Management
* E Fund Management
* Fullgoal Fund Management
* Harvest Fund Management
* ICBC Credit Suisse Asset Management
* Penghua Fund Management
* Tianhong Asset Management
* Zhong Ou Asset Management

India|

* Aditya Birla Sun Life Asset Management
* Axis Mutual Fund
* ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund
* Kotak Mutual Fund
* SBI Mutual Fund
* UTI Asset Management

Japan|

* Asset Management One
* Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation
* SPARX Group
* Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings

Korea|

* Mirae Asset Financial Group
* Samsung Asset Management
* Shinhan Asset Management

Others|

* Eastspring Investments

Methodology: By AUM
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