BDIV vs DFAU

BDIVBAAM Brentview Dividend Growth ETF

DFAUADimensional US Core Equity Market ETF

In short

BDIV A boutique that does one thing, dividend growth, picks a few dozen US stocks and pays out monthly. Priced below the typical active US equity fund, it's a concentrated take on income plus appreciation rather than a broad dividend index.

DFAU Active management priced like an index fund. Dimensional spreads across roughly 2,400 US stocks, then tilts the weights toward value, profitability and momentum instead of simply mirroring the Russell 3000.

Stated mandate

BDIV The Fund seeks current dividend income and long-term capital appreciation.

DFAU Seeks long-term capital appreciation. It uses an integrated research, portfolio-design, management, and trading process to build a broadly diversified portfolio of U.S. companies while balancing long-term return drivers, risk, shorter-term considerations, and trading costs.

Why people hold it

• BDIV Costs 0.49% a year, under the 0.65% that sits mid-pack among active US equity funds.sec.gov
• The prospectus targets roughly 30 to 40 companies, so every holding carries real weight instead of being spread thin across hundreds of names.sec.gov
• Pays monthly rather than quarterly, matching the rhythm of most household bills.
• Sub-advised by Brentview, a small shop built around dividend growth investing and nothing else, and the portfolio has tracked its stated income-and-appreciation mandate closely.brentviewim.com

• DFAU Charges 0.12% a year, well under the 0.65% median for active US equity funds and the cheapest of the top-graded names in its group (AVLC, DFAC, FELC).
• Holds roughly 2,400 US companies, so no single name steers the fund. Whole-market coverage, not a concentrated bet.
• Active without the stock-picking drama: it leans weights toward value, profitability and momentum, using the Russell 3000 as its reference point rather than a rigid rulebook.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, and one of the strongest overall implementations in its active US equity peer group.

Worth knowing

• BDIV Assets are small and shares trade thinly, so spreads run wider and larger orders need more care than in a heavily traded fund.
• Launched in 2024, so there's no record spanning a full market cycle yet.
• A few dozen names concentrates both the hits and the misses, and sector tilts can run far from a broad index.sec.gov

• DFAU Those tilts cut both ways: results can drift from a plain Russell 3000 fund for long stretches, in either direction.
• No published index behind it. The trade-off for flexibility is that you're buying Dimensional's process, not a public set of rules you can check line by line.
• Distributions land quarterly, not monthly, and the mandate is long-term capital appreciation rather than income.

Full BDIV profile⁠

Full DFAU profile⁠