The preeminent firm in applying academic research to engineer structured asset class investments is Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA). We utilize DFA's institutional funds to construct our client portfolios. There are a number of reasons that we use DFA funds.

• DFA funds are very low cost; similar in cost to Vanguard mutual funds.
• DFA funds are designed to maintain consistent exposure to the target asset class, and are thus not susceptible to style drift or chasing after the hot stocks or asset class (for example, the internet stocks of the late 1990s).
• DFA has developed trading strategies that actually have resulted in negative trading costs. This is because DFA has become one of the largest defacto market makers for small and micro cap stocks. As a result, they are often able to keep the difference between the bid and asking price (the "spread") when approached by other institutional investors looking to buy or sell large blocks of stock.)
• DFA funds are not available to retail investors. Therefore, our clients are not susceptible to panic selling by the general investing public and the resulting mutual fund redemptions that generally occur. This activity usually results in higher capital gain (distribution) exposure and increased trading costs.
• DFA is at the forefront of cutting edge research into financial markets, the dimensions of stock returns and the term structure of interest rates. Some of the most distinguished academics in financial economics, including Nobel Prize recipients, sit on the board of DFA and direct their investment strategies.

For these reasons and more, DFA is the provider of choice to construct our portfolios. There are, however, certain circumstances when we will use some retail index funds or exchange traded funds, individual bonds or individual securities for a portion of a client's portfolio due to client specific needs. We evaluate each client on an individual basis and determine what strategies to apply to their unique circumstances.