BAFE vs DFAC

BAFEBBrown Advisory Flexible Equity ETF

DFACADimensional US Core Equity 2 ETF

In short

BAFE Brown Advisory's first ETF packages a decades-old bargain-hunting philosophy: buy good businesses when the market misprices them, whether screens call them value or growth. Roughly 40 names, 0.54% net of a waiver through January 31, 2027.

DFAC Dimensional's whole-market workhorse: roughly 2,600 US stocks in one ticker, run by managers who weigh federal tax consequences before they trade, at a fee closer to index funds than to active ones.

Stated mandate

BAFE The Fund seeks long-term growth of capital.

DFAC The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation while considering federal income-tax implications in its investment decisions.

Why people hold it

• BAFE The flexible part is literal: it hunts bargains across large, mid and small caps and ignores the value/growth label, so a cheap good business qualifies either way.brownadvisory.combrownadvisory.com 2
• 0.54% net of a waiver through January 31, 2027 (0.57% gross) lands below the US active equity median, which is lean for a hands-on stock picker.
• Roughly 40 holdings, so each name actually moves the fund. That is the point of hiring a stock picker instead of buying the whole market.
• It did not start from scratch: Brown Advisory seeded its November 2024 debut by converting taxable managed accounts, and it is a multi-billion-dollar fund.seic.com

• DFAC 0.17% a year for an actively run fund, well under the median fee among active US equity ETFs.
• About 2,600 US stocks under one ticker, so it holds the market broadly rather than a narrow slice of it.
• Federal income-tax implications sit inside the stated objective, not in a footnote, so they factor into what managers buy and sell.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund with a track record running back to 2007 and one of the strongest implementations in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• BAFE Systematic rivals cost a fraction: DFAU runs 0.12%, AVLC 0.15%. Here the money buys human judgment, not a cheaper wrapper.
• Shares change hands lightly for a fund this size, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than on headline ETFs.
• The philosophy predates the fund by decades, but the ETF itself opened in November 2024, so its own live record is short and payouts land once or twice a year.sec.gov

• DFAC Actively managed, so there's no published index to check it against. Holdings and tilts shift at the managers' discretion.
• Dimensional's own DFAU runs a US core equity mandate for 0.12%, a slightly lighter fee for a similar shelf.
• All stocks, all US: the mandate is capital appreciation from equities, so it takes the market's full swings, and cash arrives quarterly.

Full BAFE profile⁠

Full DFAC profile⁠