DFAI vs JHMD

DFAIADimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

JHMDCJohn Hancock Multifactor Developed International ETF

In short

DFAI Dimensional's take on developed markets outside the US: several thousand stocks, plus deliberate leans toward cheaper and more profitable companies. Index-fund breadth with a research desk setting the weights, priced above the plain vanilla crowd.

JHMD A Dimensional-designed index in a John Hancock wrapper: roughly 600 large developed-market stocks outside North America, weighted toward the smaller, cheaper, more profitable end of the pool. Factor investing from the firm that wrote the playbook, in plain index form.

Stated mandate

DFAI The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation through an integrated approach combining research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading.

JHMD The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the John Hancock Dimensional Developed International Index.

Why people hold it

• DFAI Holds several thousand developed-market stocks outside the US, so no single name, sector or country steers the fund.
• The tilts are in the mandate, not the marketing: it leans toward cheaper stocks and more profitable companies while still owning the broad market.
• Portfolio construction is one of the stronger builds in its peer group, and the fund is a multi-billion-dollar, actively traded name that pays quarterly.

• JHMD The index sorts stocks by free-float market cap, price/book and operating income over book, then weights toward smaller, cheaper, more profitable companies.jhinvestments.com
• Roughly 600 large-cap names outside North America, reconstituted and rebalanced twice a year, so the tilts get refreshed on a schedule instead of drifting.jhinvestments.com
• Trading since December 2016, giving it close to a decade of live history running a Dimensional-built index in ETF form.sec.gov

Worth knowing

• DFAI At 0.18% it costs many times what plain cap-weighted rivals like VEA, SPDW and SCHF charge. The tilts are what the extra buys.
• MSCI World ex USA IMI is the yardstick, not a leash. Dimensional builds the portfolio its own way, so it can look and behave differently from that index.
• Launched in late 2020, so its live record is shorter than the index giants', and on the whole package it lands in the lower half of its developed-core cohort.

• JHMD Fee is 0.39%, net of a waiver through July 31, 2027 (0.43% gross). Near the category median, but above GSWO at 0.15%, INTF at 0.16% and DFAI at 0.18%.
• Ex-North America means Canada is out along with the US, so this is a slice of the developed world rather than a complete non-US sleeve.jhinvestments.com
• Mid-sized and moderately traded, and its home markets are shut during US hours, so spreads can widen around the US open and close.

Full DFAI profile⁠

Full JHMD profile⁠