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 15 international 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]
Board of Directors
Board of Directors of the general partner of Dimensional Fund Advisors LP: [25]
