DFAS vs SCHA

DFASBDimensional US Small Cap ETF

SCHAASchwab U.S. Small-Cap ETF

In short

DFAS —No data

SCHA Schwab's small-cap workhorse: three basis points, roughly 1,700 companies, and a mandate to hold the slice of the US market that sits below the large and mid caps. Running since 2009.

Stated mandate

DFAS —No data

SCHA The fund seeks to closely track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Total Stock Market Index. It generally invests in that index’s small-cap stocks and normally places at least 90% of net assets in them.

Why people hold it

DFAS —No data

• SCHA At 0.03% a year, it is tied for the cheapest fund in its small-cap peer group and a fraction of the 0.25% category median. The fee is the one variable you know in advance.
• Roughly 1,700 stocks, weighted by size. That is the whole small-cap tail rather than a curated shortlist, and no single name gets to steer the portfolio.
• The contract is plain: at least 90% of net assets in the Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Total Stock Market Index, and it has tracked that benchmark closely.
• Sixteen years old, multi-billion-dollar, actively traded, and pays quarterly. One of the sturdier implementations among the broad small-cap index funds we cover.

Worth knowing

DFAS —No data

• SCHA Small caps move harder than large caps in both directions. This fund takes the full ride with no hedge, buffer, or volatility damper in the design.
• The index sorts by size, not quality. Unprofitable and lightly covered companies come along with everything else, since no earnings screen sits in front of the portfolio.
• It follows a Dow Jones small-cap index, not the Russell 2000 that IWM and VTWO track, so its returns and headlines about that benchmark will not line up exactly.

Full DFAS profile⁠

Full SCHA profile⁠