DFAU vs FFLC

DFAUADimensional US Core Equity Market ETF

FFLCAFidelity Fundamental Large Cap Core ETF

In short

DFAU Active management priced like an index fund. Dimensional spreads across roughly 2,400 US stocks, then tilts the weights toward value, profitability and momentum instead of simply mirroring the Russell 3000.

FFLC Fidelity's stock pickers running large-cap core the old-fashioned way: roughly 100 names chosen by analysts, priced like a cheap fund rather than a premium active one. Human research, index-fund plumbing.

Stated mandate

DFAU Seeks long-term capital appreciation. It uses an integrated research, portfolio-design, management, and trading process to build a broadly diversified portfolio of U.S. companies while balancing long-term return drivers, risk, shorter-term considerations, and trading costs.

FFLC The fund seeks long-term growth of capital through investments in equity securities, pursuing a diversified domestic large-cap core strategy.

Why people hold it

• DFAU Charges 0.12% a year, well under the 0.65% median for active US equity funds and the cheapest of the top-graded names in its group (AVLC, DFAC, FELC).
• Holds roughly 2,400 US companies, so no single name steers the fund. Whole-market coverage, not a concentrated bet.
• Active without the stock-picking drama: it leans weights toward value, profitability and momentum, using the Russell 3000 as its reference point rather than a rigid rulebook.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, and one of the strongest overall implementations in its active US equity peer group.

• FFLC 0.38% for genuine active management, below the typical fee for active US stock ETFs. You're paying for the research desk, not the wrapper.
• About 100 holdings, actively chosen in pursuit of long-term capital growth. This is a real portfolio of decisions, not an index fund wearing an active label.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades in reasonable size, so entering and exiting doesn't usually mean wrestling with a wide spread.
• Stands among the stronger builds in a crowded field of active US equity ETFs, where hundreds of funds compete for the same core slot.

Worth knowing

• DFAU Those tilts cut both ways: results can drift from a plain Russell 3000 fund for long stretches, in either direction.
• No published index behind it. The trade-off for flexibility is that you're buying Dimensional's process, not a public set of rules you can check line by line.
• Distributions land quarterly, not monthly, and the mandate is long-term capital appreciation rather than income.

• FFLC Cheap for active, still pricier than systematic core rivals like FELC (0.18%) or AVLC (0.15%). That gap is the cost of human stock picking.
• With roughly 100 names, single positions carry real weight, so the ride can be bumpier than a 500-stock index fund in either direction.
• Active by design: the portfolio can look and behave quite differently from a plain large-cap index over any given stretch.

Full DFAU profile⁠

Full FFLC profile⁠