DFA vs Vanguard, Please help

ItsMyOwnName · Post by **ItsMyOwnName** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:30 pm

Hi All,

I am in the process of rolling over:

1. A 401k account from an ex-employer to Vanguard
2. Two RothIRA accounts from TDAmeritrade to Vanguard

While doing research additional to that on this forum, i have come across a website that has a wealth of good, actionable information but a specific
write-up on their main page, caught my attention.

Please let me know the experts' and others' opinion on the same as i am at the crossroads AGAIN:

http://www.fundadvice.com/articles/buy-hold/the-best-mutual-fund-dfa-or-vanguard-.html

Here's their conclusion which can be found at the end of the article:

"THE BOTTOM LINE

Investors who want to make their money work as hard as possible for them should whenever possible use passively managed funds such as those offered by Vanguard and Dimensional.

Both families are very good. But one family is better than the other.

The whole idea of our ?ultimate buy-and-hold strategy? is to properly load a portfolio with small-cap stocks and value stocks. The better you do that, the better your long-term results are likely to be.

Unfortunately, you simply cannot get full diversification using Vanguard funds. Vanguard does an inadequate job of covering a few very important asset classes. It doesn?t offer a U.S. micro-cap fund nor any fund (that?s open to new investors) that focuses on small-cap international companies.

Dimensional funds give you the assets that academic research says you need. If there were an alternative open to the general investing public, we would recommend it. But the only way to truly duplicate what we think is the ultimate strategy is to use Dimensional funds.

What?s at stake is your money and your future. It?s your choice, and now you have the information you need to make it. "

laks0 · Post by **laks0** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:36 pm

DFA is not for everyone. I think You have to go through an Advisor to invest in DFA funds. If you want to do it yourself, Vanguard, Fidelity Trowprice are some of the options.

http://www.dfaus.com/service/individuals/

Extract

As a result, Dimensional does not offer funds directly to individual investors. Instead, we choose to make our funds available through a select group of fee-only advisors. Investment success begins with a properly diversified portfolio. Constructing such a portfolio is a complicated process that can benefit from the guidance of a qualified, professional advisor. In our view, independent advisors free from the conflicts associated with commission-based transactions are best positioned to assist individual investors in developing long-term investment solutions.

desihometown · Post by **desihometown** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:40 am

U can only invest in DFA funds through their approved financial advisors.

They send u a list of financial advisors through whom u can invest.

But the problem is, the financial advisor dude charges a lot of money to talk to you and come up with an "investment plan". One guy mentioned it would be anywhere from 3K-6K for one meeting.

I shudder to think how many such meetings he will want to have.

I didnt bother to purse it for that reason. If u are the kind of guy who has done his research and know which funds to put his money in, why bother to pay 5-6K for an advisor and hear the same crap about diversification, corelation, risk versus reward etc.

That's why most regular people go with cheap Vanguard or Fidelity index funds versus DFA

suny · Post by **suny** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:40 pm

If i were you, I would just go with Vanguard. They have best choice for low cost index mutual funds than anybody.

I was with Fidelity for 5 years but finally moved to VG in 2005. I am glad that i made that move and should have made that move much earlier.

Fidelity has very few index funds and i had to check my investments every month for active funds. With index funds, you can sleep happy and just do adjustments to keep AAP only once a year.

RRK had written article what are VG funds you should invest if you want to invest in 1 fund or 2 funds or even 10 funds in old MSN forum.
I pretty much went along those lines..

Suny

desihometown;21616U can only invest in DFA funds through their approved financial advisors.

They send u a list of financial advisors through whom u can invest.

But the problem is, the financial advisor dude charges a lot of money to talk to you and come up with an "investment plan". One guy mentioned it would be anywhere from 3K-6K for one meeting.

I shudder to think how many such meetings he will want to have.

I didnt bother to purse it for that reason. If u are the kind of guy who has done his research and know which funds to put his money in, why bother to pay 5-6K for an advisor and hear the same crap about diversification, corelation, risk versus reward etc.

That's why most regular people go with cheap Vanguard or Fidelity index funds versus DFA

ItsMyOwnName · Post by **ItsMyOwnName** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 8:11 pm

Thanks for your feedback.

I got a communication from DFA mentioning the names and the account minimums. To start working with DFA advisor, the minimum account balance is a 100,000. Now i have something to look forward to for the year 2021...

In the meantime, i will start with RRKs three fund Vanguard portfolio.

ggrajan · Post by **ggrajan** » Wed May 02, 2007 2:48 am

ItsMyOwnName;22317Thanks for your feedback.

I got a communication from DFA mentioning the names and the account minimums. To start working with DFA advisor, the minimum account balance is a 100,000. Now i have something to look forward to for the year 2021...

In the meantime, i will start with RRKs three fund Vanguard portfolio.

Good luck- What are those 3 funds? Or please provide me the link for RRK's recommendations.

ItsMyOwnName · Post by **ItsMyOwnName** » Wed May 02, 2007 7:25 pm

ggrajan;22568Good luck- What are those 3 funds? Or please provide me the link for RRK's recommendations.

Hi ggrajan,

A complete list of RRK's portfolio allocation is found in the following thread.
http://www.r2iclubforums.com/clubvb/showthread.php?t=567

ItsMyOwnName · Post by **ItsMyOwnName** » Tue May 22, 2007 1:12 am

Hi,

My current employer is soon to be my ex-employer.

In my 401k account with them, i have invested in
1. A single fund that invests in DFVFX+DFETX in a 90/10 ratio (0.32% and 0.41% total expenses).
2. SACPX (0.66% total expenses ) which is closed to new money.

Please let me know if it makes sense to rollover these funds into my Vanguard RolloverIRA a/c in which i am following RRKs three fund plan.

Thanks.

Vijay Kumar · Post by **Vijay Kumar** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 4:06 pm

Vanguard does help you asset allocate at very low cost but Dimensional does have advantages over Vanguard. DFA costs are low like Vanguard. My portfolio is mostly in DFA and I did have to use a financial planner. The biggest advantage of DFA is the low weighting in their index fund they give to any company weather in the US or international. This helps in reduces the chances of one or a few companies ruining your portfolio as happened in 2000. I am so glad that I decided to go with DFA. My portfolio has done very well the last 9 years I have been in them. Better than Vanguard or any other.

DELETED BY ADMIN - PLEASE READ COC-25 .

Jaggudada · Post by **Jaggudada** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 1:47 am

With DFA you have to start with minimum 100K. Did your financial planner recommend you to invest 100K and spread that in your asset class in one shot? or you open an account with 100K with them and gradually move from money market to your asset allocation funds?

Could you provide some comparison data between Vanguard and DFA funds to see how much of a difference we are talking about. With Vanguard you have flexibility to invest in small chunks.