CBSE vs DFAC

CBSEDClough Select Equity ETF

DFACADimensional US Core Equity 2 ETF

In short

CBSE A hand-picked active equity fund with an unusual triple job: current income, capital growth, and preservation of principal. Small, thinly traded, and priced like a manager you hire rather than an index you rent.

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

CBSE The Fund seeks current income, capital growth, and preservation of principal.

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

Why people hold it

• CBSE Genuinely active: the managers buy individual names screened for above-average financial characteristics, undervaluation or growth potential, instead of mirroring an index.
• One mandate, three jobs. The stated objective pairs current income and capital growth with preservation of principal, an unusual combination to write into a single equity fund.
• What is inside the portfolio is the strongest part of the package, holding up better than the fund's cost or risk profile.
• Trading since 2020, so there is live history to judge rather than a backtest.

• 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

• CBSE At 0.85% a year, it prices above the typical active US equity ETF and many times index-style rivals like DFAU (0.12%) and FELC (0.18%), leaving it in the group's lower tier on cost.
• It is a small fund that does not trade much, so spreads can widen and limit orders matter more than with a mega-cap index ETF.
• Despite the income language in the objective, distributions land once or twice a year rather than monthly.

• 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 CBSE profile⁠

Full DFAC profile⁠