Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Finance |
Founded | 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 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]
Passive management is an investing strategy that tracks a market-weighted index or portfolio. Passive management is most common on the equity market, where index funds track a stock market index, but it is becoming more common in other investment types, including bonds, commodities and hedge funds.
An index fund is a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) designed to follow certain preset rules so that it can replicate the performance ("track") of a specified basket of underlying investments. While index providers often emphasize that they are for-profit organizations, index providers have the ability to act as "reluctant regulators" when determining which companies are suitable for an index. Those rules may include tracking prominent indices like the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average or implementation rules, such as tax-management, tracking error minimization, large block trading or patient/flexible trading strategies that allow for greater tracking error but lower market impact costs. Index funds may also have rules that screen for social and sustainable criteria.
A closed-end fund, also known as a closed-end mutual fund, is an investment vehicle fund that raises capital by issuing a fixed number of shares at its inception, and then invests that capital in financial assets such as stocks and bonds. After inception it is closed to new capital, although fund managers sometimes employ leverage. Investors can buy and sell the existing shares in secondary markets.
A mutual fund is an investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase securities. The term is typically used in the United States, Canada, and India, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV in Europe, and the open-ended investment company (OEIC) in the UK.
Fidelity Investments, formerly known as Fidelity Management & Research (FMR), is an American multinational financial services corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1946, the company is one of the largest asset managers in the world, with $4.9 trillion in assets under management, and, as of December 2023, $12.6 trillion in assets under administration. Fidelity Investments operates a brokerage firm, manages a large family of mutual funds, provides fund distribution and investment advice, retirement services, index funds, wealth management, securities execution and clearance, asset custody, and life insurance.
An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of investment fund that is also an exchange-traded product, i.e., it is traded on stock exchanges. ETFs own financial assets such as stocks, bonds, currencies, debts, futures contracts, and/or commodities such as gold bars. The list of assets that each ETF owns, as well as their weightings, is posted on the website of the issuer daily, or quarterly in the case of active non-transparent ETFs. Many ETFs provide some level of diversification compared to owning an individual stock.
The Vanguard Group, Inc., is an American registered investment advisor based in Malvern, Pennsylvania, with about $7.7 trillion in global assets under management, as of April 2023. It is the largest provider of mutual funds and the second-largest provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the world after BlackRock's iShares. In addition to mutual funds and ETFs, Vanguard offers brokerage services, educational account services, financial planning, asset management, and trust services. Several mutual funds managed by Vanguard are ranked at the top of the list of US mutual funds by assets under management. Along with BlackRock and State Street, Vanguard is considered to be one of the Big Three index fund managers that play a dominant role in corporate America.
Franklin Resources, Inc. is an American multinational holding company that, together with its subsidiaries, is referred to as Franklin Templeton; it is a global investment firm founded in New York City in 1947 as Franklin Distributors, Inc. It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BEN, in honor of Benjamin Franklin, for whom the company is named, and who was admired by founder Rupert Johnson Sr. In 1973, the company's headquarters moved from New York to San Mateo, California.
A "fund of funds" (FOF) is an investment strategy of holding a portfolio of other investment funds rather than investing directly in stocks, bonds or other securities. This type of investing is often referred to as multi-manager investment. A fund of funds may be "fettered", meaning that it invests only in funds managed by the same investment company, or "unfettered", meaning that it can invest in external funds run by other managers.
An investment company is a financial institution principally engaged in holding, managing and investing securities. These companies in the United States are regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and must be registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Investment companies invest money on behalf of their clients who, in return, share in the profits and losses.
A financial adviser or financial advisor is a professional who provides financial services to clients based on their financial situation. In many countries, financial advisors must complete specific training and be registered with a regulatory body in order to provide advice.
Louis G. Navellier is Chairman and Founder of Navellier & Associates in Reno, Nevada, which manages approximately $1.0 billion in assets. Navellier also writes five investment newsletters focused on growth investing: Growth Investor, Breakthrough Stocks, Accelerated Profits, Power Options and Platinum Growth Club, and can frequently be seen giving his market outlook and analysis on Bloomberg, Fox News, and CNBC.
TrimTabs Investment Research, Inc. is a leading independent institutional research firm focused on equity market liquidity based in Sausalito, California.
In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures the performance of a stock market, or of a subset of a stock market. It helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market performance.
AdvisorShares Investments is a US-based investment management firm based in Bethesda, Maryland which offers actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) through the AdvisorShares Trust. AdvisorShares partners with third party financial advisers who already manage clients’ assets to package their investment strategy using exchange-traded funds. As part of promoting its funds it also provides educational support to help financial advisors and investors understand actively managed ETFs and their underlying investment strategies.
An exchange-traded product (ETP) is a regularly priced security which trades during the day on a national stock exchange. ETPs may embed derivatives but it is not a requirement that they do so – and the investment memorandum should be read with care to ensure that the pricing methodology and use of derivatives is explicitly stated. Typically, individual underlying securities, such as stocks and bonds, are not considered ETPs.
An investment fund is a way of investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group such as reducing the risks of the investment by a significant percentage. These advantages include an ability to:
Betterment is an American financial advisory company which provides digital investment, retirement and cash management services.
Axis Direct is the flagship brand under Axis Securities Limited, a subsidiary of Axis Bank in India. Providing Demat and Trading services. Its main offices are in Mumbai. The company employs over 2,100 people.
VanEck is an American investment management firm headquartered in New York City. The firm is primarily engaged in issuing exchange-traded fund (ETF) products although it also deals with mutual funds and separately managed accounts for institutional investors. It was a pioneer of investing in foreign growth stocks as well as gold investing.