DFAC vs ESN

DFACADimensional US Core Equity 2 ETF

ESNBEssential 40 Stock ETF

In short

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.

ESN A 40-stock take on US large caps. KKM's Essential 40 Stock ETF tracks a single purpose-built index, giving you a compact, rules-based basket in a corner of the market dominated by funds that own hundreds of names.

Stated mandate

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

ESN The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Essential 40 Stock Index. It normally invests at least 80% of net assets in common stocks comprising that Index.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• ESN Rules-based by design: normally at least 80% of net assets sits in the index's common stocks, so the playbook is written down rather than left to a manager's mood.
• Nothing else in our active US equity coverage tracks the Essential 40 Stock Index, so this exposure is hard to duplicate with another off-the-shelf fund.
• Plain plumbing: a standard 1940 Act fund holding US common stocks, with no leverage, no derivatives overlay and no structural quirks to decode.
• Lands in the top quartile of the several hundred active US equity ETFs we grade, a strong showing for a fund this new.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• ESN At 0.70% a year it runs above the roughly 0.65% typical for active US equity ETFs, and multiples of core rivals like DFAU (0.12%) and AVLC (0.15%).
• Launched in October 2024, so the history is short and there is not yet enough published data to measure how tightly it hugs its index.
• Forty names means every holding carries real weight, a different ride from a 500-stock core fund. Trading is moderate rather than heavy, so limit orders earn their keep.

Full DFAC profile⁠

Full ESN profile⁠