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World Core Equity Portfolio
World Core Equity Portfolio
Investment Objective
The investment objective of the World Core Equity Portfolio (formerly, Dimensional Retirement Equity Fund II) (the “Portfolio”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation.
Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio
This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the World Core Equity Portfolio.
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment):
Shareholder Fees
World Core Equity Portfolio
Institutional Class
USD ($)
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment) none
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
World Core Equity Portfolio
Institutional Class
Management Fee 0.30%
Other Expenses 0.03%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses 0.31%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 0.64%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement 0.29% [1]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement 0.35%
[1] Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the “Advisor”) has agreed to waive certain fees and in certain instances, assume certain expenses of the World Core Equity Portfolio. The Amended and Restated Fee Waiver and Expense Assumption Agreement for the Portfolio will remain in effect through February 28, 2018, and may only be terminated by the Fund’s Board of Directors prior to that date. Under certain circumstances, the Advisor retains the right to seek reimbursement for any fees previously waived and/or expenses previously assumed up to thirty-six months after such fee waiver and/or expense assumption.
EXAMPLE
This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the World Core Equity Portfolio with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. The costs for the Portfolio reflect the net expenses of the Portfolio that result from the contractual expense waiver in the first year only. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
Expense Example
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
World Core Equity Portfolio | Institutional Class | USD ($) 36 176 328 771
Expense Example, No Redemption
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
World Core Equity Portfolio | Institutional Class | USD ($) 36 176 328 771
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER
A mutual fund generally pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when mutual fund shares are held in a taxable account. The World Core Equity Portfolio does not pay transaction costs when buying and selling shares of other mutual funds (the “Underlying Funds”); however, the Underlying Funds pay transaction costs when buying and selling securities for their portfolios. The transaction costs incurred by the Underlying Funds, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the World Core Equity Portfolio’s turnover rate was 3% based on the weighted average portfolio turnover ratios of each of the Portfolio’s underlying investments.
Principal Investment Strategies
The World Core Equity Portfolio is a “fund of funds,” which means that the World Core Equity Portfolio generally allocates its assets among other mutual funds managed by the Advisor although it also has the ability to invest directly in securities. The World Core Equity Portfolio seeks to achieve exposure to a broad portfolio of securities of both U.S. companies and non-U.S. companies associated with countries with developed and emerging markets, which may include frontier markets (emerging markets in an earlier stage of development), by primarily purchasing shares of U.S. Core Equity 1 Portfolio, U.S. Large Company Portfolio, U.S. Large Cap Equity Portfolio, International Core Equity Portfolio, Large Cap International Portfolio, Emerging Markets Core Equity Portfolio and The Emerging Markets Series (the “Underlying Funds”). The World Core Equity Portfolio may have exposure to companies in all the market capitalization ranges.

The World Core Equity Portfolio typically allocates its investments among the Underlying Funds in the following manner: 35% to 80% in the U.S. Core Equity 1 Portfolio, U.S. Large Cap Equity Portfolio and/or U.S. Large Company Portfolio; 15% to 55% in the International Core Equity Portfolio and/or Large Cap International Portfolio; and 5% to 20% in the Emerging Markets Core Equity Portfolio and/or The Emerging Markets Series. Allocations by the World Core Equity Portfolio among the Underlying Funds within the ranges described above are determined by the relative value of the holdings of the Underlying Funds. Periodically, the Advisor will review the allocations for the World Core Equity Portfolio in each Underlying Fund and may adjust allocations to the Underlying Funds or may add or remove Underlying Funds in the Portfolio without notice to shareholders.

As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the World Core Equity Portfolio’s net assets will be invested directly, or indirectly through its investment in the Underlying Funds, in equity securities.

The World Core Equity Portfolio and each Underlying Fund may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for equity securities and indices, to adjust market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio or Underlying Fund. The World Core Equity Portfolio and Underlying Funds do not intend to sell futures contracts to establish short positions in individual securities or to use derivatives for purposes of speculation or leveraging investment returns. The World Core Equity Portfolio and each Underlying Fund may invest in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and similarly structured pooled investments for the purposes of gaining exposure to the equity markets, while maintaining liquidity. In addition to money market instruments and other short-term investments, the World Core Equity Portfolio and each Underlying Fund may invest in affiliated and unaffiliated registered and unregistered money market funds. The World Core Equity Portfolio and Underlying Funds may invest in such money market funds and other short-term investments to manage cash pending investment in other securities or to maintain liquidity for the payment of redemptions or other purposes. Investments in ETFs and money market funds may involve a duplication of certain fees and expenses.

The World Core Equity Portfolio and Underlying Funds may lend their portfolio securities to generate additional income.

A summary of the investment strategies and policies of the Underlying Funds in which the World Core Equity Portfolio invests as of the date of this Prospectus is described in the Portfolio’s Prospectus in the section entitled “ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES AND POLICIES”.
Principal Risks
Because the value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money. The following is a description of principal risks of investing in the Portfolio.

Fund of Funds Risk: The investment performance of the World Core Equity Portfolio is affected by the investment performance of the Underlying Funds in which the Portfolio invests. The ability of the Portfolio to achieve its investment objective depends on the ability of the Underlying Funds to meet their investment objectives and on the Advisor’s decisions regarding the allocation of the Portfolio’s assets among the Underlying Funds. The Portfolio may allocate assets to an Underlying Fund or asset class that underperforms other funds or asset classes. There can be no assurance that the investment objective of the Portfolio or any Underlying Fund will be achieved. When the Portfolio invests in Underlying Funds, investors are exposed to a proportionate share of the expenses of those Underlying Funds in addition to the expenses of the Portfolio. Through its investments in the Underlying Funds, the Portfolio is subject to the risks of the Underlying Funds’ investments. The risks of the World Core Equity Portfolio’s and Underlying Funds’ investments are described below.

Equity Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, market, political, and issuer-specific conditions and events will cause the value of equity securities, and the Portfolio or Underlying Fund that owns them, to rise or fall. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.

Foreign Securities and Currencies Risk: Foreign securities prices may decline or fluctuate because of: (a) economic or political actions of foreign governments, and/or (b) less regulated or liquid securities markets. Investors holding these securities may also be exposed to foreign currency risk (the possibility that foreign currency will fluctuate in value against the U.S. dollar or that a foreign government will convert, or be forced to convert, its currency to another currency, changing its value against the U.S. dollar). The Underlying Funds do not hedge foreign currency risk.

Small Company Risk: Securities of small companies are often less liquid than those of large companies and this could make it difficult to sell a small company security at a desired time or price. As a result, small company stocks may fluctuate relatively more in price. In general, smaller capitalization companies are also more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments and they may have more limited resources.

Value Investment Risk: Value stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and following a value-oriented investment strategy may cause the World Core Equity Portfolio and the Underlying Funds to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Emerging Markets Risk: Numerous emerging market countries have a history of, and continue to experience serious, and potentially continuing, economic and political problems. Stock markets in many emerging market countries are relatively small, expensive to trade in and generally have higher risks than those in developed markets. Securities in emerging markets also may be less liquid than those in developed markets and foreigners are often limited in their ability to invest in, and withdraw assets from, these markets. Additional restrictions may be imposed under other conditions. Frontier market countries generally have smaller economies or less developed capital markets and, as a result, the risks of investing in emerging market countries are magnified in frontier market countries.

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as swaps, futures and foreign exchange forward contracts, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When the World Core Equity Portfolio or an Underlying Fund uses derivatives, the Portfolio or Underlying Fund will be directly exposed to the risks of those derivatives. Derivative instruments are subject to a number of risks including counterparty, liquidity, interest rate, market, credit and management risks, and the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and the Portfolio or Underlying Fund could lose more than the principal amount invested.

Securities Lending Risk: Securities lending involves the risk that the borrower may fail to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. As a result, an Underlying Fund may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. An Underlying Fund could also lose money if it does not recover the securities and/or the value of the collateral falls, including the value of investments made with cash collateral. Securities lending also may have certain adverse tax consequences. To the extent that the Portfolio holds securities directly and lends those securities, it will be also subject to the foregoing risks with respect to its loaned securities.

Cyber Security Risk: The World Core Equity Portfolio’s and its service providers’ use of internet, technology and information systems may expose the Portfolio to potential risks linked to cyber security breaches of those technological or information systems. Cyber security breaches, amongst other things, could allow an unauthorized party to gain access to proprietary information, customer data, or fund assets, or cause the Portfolio and/or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality.
Performance
The bar chart and table immediately following illustrate the variability of the World Core Equity Portfolio’s returns and are meant to provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio. The bar chart shows the changes in the Portfolio’s performance from year to year. The table illustrates how annualized one year and since inception returns, both before and after taxes, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Portfolio’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not an indication of future results. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained by visiting http://us.dimensional.com.

The after-tax returns presented in the table for the World Core Equity Portfolio’s are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown in the table. In addition, the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Portfolio through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.
World Core Equity Portfolio Institutional Class Shares—Total Returns
Bar Chart
January 2013-December 2016

Highest Quarter    Lowest Quarter
9.34% (10/13–12/13)
   -9.91% (7/15–9/15)
Annualized Returns (%)
Periods ending December 31, 2016
Average Annual Total Returns - World Core Equity Portfolio
1 Year
Since Inception
Inception Date
Institutional Class 10.72% 9.16% Mar. 07, 2012
Institutional Class | Return After Taxes on Distributions 10.01% 8.49% Mar. 07, 2012
Institutional Class | Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares 6.51% 7.13% Mar. 07, 2012
MSCI All Country World Index (net dividends) (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes on sales) 7.86% 7.88%