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Dimensional Fund Advisors

edited January 2014 in Fund Discussions
Any pros and cons re the DFA funds? For my grandson's college account. I know Daniel Solin is high on them and a co-founder Eugene Fama has strong credentials. Must be purchased thru an advisor so not sure how stiff fee might be. Thanks and happy new year!

Comments

  • edited January 2014
    Personally I don't think you need an advisor for college investing.

    West Virginia's Smart 529 Select Plan is using DFA as the investment managers and funds.

    http://www.smart529select.com/cs/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1150848439567&pagename=College_Savings/Page/CS_CommonPage

    Reasonable fees and no advisor fees as you do not need to go thru an advisor for this plan. Anyone can invest in it but you just lose out on any State tax contribution benefits if you're outside of West Virginia. A lot of investors do invest outside of their State to get into a better plan.

    But in general --- even Daniel Solin and other good advisors will tell you --- you shouldn't pay an advisor just to get into DFA funds. Pay an advisor if you really need financial advice, financial guidance, financial planning or even portfolio management. There are some advance topics they can be helpful with. And most of them probably have minimum $$$ amounts they will work with.

  • Dear Skipper: DFA Advisor fees can range from .50-2% depending on the advisor. For your information I have linked SavingForCollege.Com. Suggest you check it out before making any decisions. DFA has some good funds, but Vanguard also ranks high.
    Regards,
    Ted
    http://www.savingforcollege.com/
  • Dear Skipper, I used College Savings Iowa for my kids college. It's run by Vanguard. Actually I have one junior and one freshman currently. It has worked quite well so far.
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