DFAC vs SNAV

DFACADimensional US Core Equity 2 ETF

SNAVDMohr Sector Nav 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.

SNAV Eleven sectors make up the S&P 500, and this active fund tries to hold only the ones its model favors. A boutique rotation strategy that costs 1.59% a year, with no fee waiver in place.

Stated mandate

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

SNAV The Fund seeks capital appreciation through an actively managed, tactical strategy that allocates among industry sectors associated with the S&P 500 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.

• SNAV Rotation instead of owning everything: the adviser tactically allocates across the 11 sectors in the S&P 500, so sector weights can sit far from a plain index fund's.sec.gov
• You outsource the sector calls. One ticker does the work of shuffling a basket of sector funds yourself, with a manager deciding what gets weight.sec.gov
• Trading since January 2023, so there is a real, public live record to examine rather than a backtest.

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.

• SNAV At 1.59% with no fee waiver in place, it costs more than the typical fund in its active US equity category, and far more than core peers DFAU (0.12%) and AVLC (0.15%) or active rotation peer DYNF (0.26%).
• Small and lightly traded, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads and choppier fills than a mainstream core fund.
• Its own filings frame it for investors seeking long-term growth who can tolerate full market risk and large swings in principal. It has not been paying distributions.sec.gov

Full DFAC profile⁠

Full SNAV profile⁠