EMERGING MARKETS VALUE PORTFOLIO

497K 1 d86755d497k.htm EMERGING MARKETS VALUE PORTFOLIO EMERGING MARKETS VALUE PORTFOLIO

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Emerging Markets Value Portfolio

SHARE CLASS (TICKER): INSTITUTIONAL CLASS (DFEVX)

Summary Prospectus

February 28, 2019

(as amended July 8, 2019)

Before you invest, you may want to review the Portfolio’s Prospectus, which contains more information about the Portfolio and its risks. You can find the Portfolio’s Prospectus and other information about the Portfolio, including the Statement of Additional Information (SAI) and most recent reports to shareholders, when available, online at https://us.dimensional.com/fund-documents. You can also get this information at no cost by calling collect to (512) 306-7400 or by sending an e-mail request to document_requests@dimensional.com. The Portfolio’s Prospectus and SAI, both dated February 28, 2019, as may be supplemented, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus.

Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, paper copies of the Portfolio’s annual and semi-annual shareholder reports will no longer be sent by mail, unless you specifically request paper copies of the reports from the Portfolio or from your financial intermediary. Instead, the reports will be made available on the Portfolio’s website, and you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted and provided with a website link to access the report.

If you already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and you need not take any action. You may elect to receive shareholder reports and other communications electronically from the Portfolio anytime by contacting the Portfolio’s transfer agent at (888) 576-1167 or by contacting your financial intermediary.

You may elect to receive all future shareholder reports in paper free of charge. You can inform the Portfolio that you wish to continue receiving paper copies of your shareholder reports by contacting your financial intermediary or, if you invest directly with the Portfolio, by calling (888) 576-1167, to let the Portfolio know of your request. Your election to receive reports in paper will apply to all DFA Funds held directly or to all funds held through your financial intermediary.

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Emerging Markets Value Portfolio is to achieve long-term capital appreciation. The Emerging Markets Value Portfolio is a Feeder Portfolio and pursues its objective by investing substantially all of its assets in its corresponding Master Fund, the Dimensional Emerging Markets Value Fund (the “Emerging Markets Value Fund”), which has the same investment objective and policies as the Portfolio.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Emerging Markets Value Portfolio.

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)*


Management Fee			0.60%
Other Expenses			0.04%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses			0.64%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement			0.10%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement			0.54%

The “Management Fee” includes an investment management fee payable by the Feeder Portfolio and an investment management fee payable by the Master Fund. For any period when the Feeder Portfolio is invested in other funds managed by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the “Advisor”) (collectively, “Underlying Funds”), the Advisor has contractually agreed to permanently waive the Feeder Portfolio’s direct investment management fee to the extent necessary to offset the proportionate share of any Underlying Fund’s investment management fee paid by the Feeder Portfolio through its investment in such Underlying Fund. The amounts set forth under “Other Expenses” and “Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses” reflect the direct expenses of the Feeder Portfolio and the indirect expenses of the Feeder Portfolio’s portion of the expenses of the Master Fund.

EXAMPLE

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year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:



1 Year			3 Years			5 Years			10 Years
	$	55		$	173		$	302		$	677

The Example reflects the aggregate annual operating expenses of the Emerging Markets Value Portfolio and the Emerging Markets Value Portfolio’s portion of the expenses of the Emerging Markets Value Fund.

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

The Emerging Markets Value Fund 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 Portfolio shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Emerging Markets Value Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Emerging Markets Value Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 13% of the average value of its investment portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Emerging Markets Value Portfolio pursues its investment objective by investing substantially all of its assets in the Emerging Markets Value Fund. The Emerging Markets Value Fund purchases emerging market equity securities that are deemed by the Advisor to be value stocks at the time of purchase and associated with emerging markets, which may include frontier markets (emerging market countries in an earlier stage of development), authorized for investment by the Advisor’s Investment Committee (“Approved Markets”). Securities are considered value stocks primarily because a company’s shares have a low price in relation to their book value. In assessing value, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. The Advisor may also adjust the representation in the Emerging Markets Value Fund of an eligible company, or exclude a company, after considering such factors as free float, momentum, trading strategies, liquidity, size, value, profitability, and other factors that the Advisor determines to be appropriate, given market conditions. In assessing profitability, the Advisor may consider different ratios, such as that of earnings or profits from operations relative to book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing value or profitability are subject to change from time to time. As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Emerging Markets Value Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets in emerging markets investments that are defined in the Prospectus as Approved Markets securities. The Emerging Markets Value Fund may purchase emerging market equity securities across all market capitalizations.

Emerging Markets Value Portfolio Summary Prospectus 3

The Emerging Markets Value Fund may gain exposure to companies associated with Approved Markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer’s domicile country. The Emerging Markets Value Portfolio and the Emerging Markets Value Fund each may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for Approved Market or other equity market securities and indices, including those of the United States, to adjust market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Emerging Markets Value Portfolio or Emerging Markets Value Fund. The Emerging Markets Value Portfolio and Emerging Markets Value Fund 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 Emerging Markets Value Fund may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.

Principal Risks

Because the value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money. An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The following is a description of principal risks of investing in the Portfolio.

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 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 Emerging Markets Value Fund does not hedge foreign currency risk.

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

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economies or less developed capital markets and, as a result, the risks of investing in emerging market countries are magnified in frontier market countries.

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 Portfolio to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as futures, and options thereon, and foreign currency 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 Emerging Markets Value Fund and the Emerging Markets Value Portfolio use derivatives, the Emerging Markets Value Portfolio 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, as well as 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 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, the Emerging Markets Value Fund may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. The Emerging Markets Value 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.

Cyber Security Risk: The Emerging Markets Value 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 Emerging Markets Value Portfolio’s returns and are meant to provide some

Emerging Markets Value Portfolio Summary Prospectus 5

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, five year and ten year returns, both before and after taxes, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Emerging Markets Value 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 Emerging Markets Value Portfolio 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.

Emerging Markets Value Portfolio Institutional Class Shares—Total Returns

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January 2009-December 2018
Highest Quarter		Lowest Quarter
44.78% (4/09–6/09)		-26.91% (7/11–9/11)

Annualized Returns (%)

Periods ending December 31, 2018

1 Year

5 Years

10 Years

Emerging Markets Value Portfolio

Return Before Taxes

-11.93

1.85

8.19

Return After Taxes on Distributions

-12.43

1.23

7.43

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares

-6.69

1.34

6.71

MSCI Emerging Markets Index (net dividends)
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes on sales)

-14.57

1.65

8.02

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Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as the investment advisor for the Emerging Markets Value Portfolio and Emerging Markets Value Fund. Dimensional Fund Advisors Ltd. and DFA Australia Limited serve as the sub-advisors for the Emerging Markets Value Fund. The following individuals are responsible for coordinating the day to day management of the Emerging Markets Portfolio and Emerging Markets Value Fund:

•

Jed S. Fogdall, Senior Portfolio Manager and Vice President of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since 2010.

•

Mary T. Phillips, Senior Portfolio Manager and Vice President of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since 2017.

•

Bhanu P. Singh, Senior Portfolio Manager and Vice President of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since 2015.

Purchase and Redemption of Fund Shares

Investors may purchase or redeem shares of the Emerging Markets Value Portfolio on each day that the NYSE is scheduled to be open for business by first contacting the Portfolio’s transfer agent at (888) 576-1167. Shareholders that invest in the Emerging Markets Value Portfolio through a financial intermediary should contact their financial intermediary regarding purchase and redemption procedures. The Emerging Markets Value Portfolio generally is available for investment only by institutional clients, clients of registered investment advisors, clients of financial institutions and a limited number of certain other investors as approved from time to time by the Advisor. All investments are subject to approval of the Advisor.

Tax Information

The dividends and distributions you receive from the Emerging Markets Value Portfolio are taxable and generally will be taxed as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case distributions may be taxed as ordinary income when withdrawn from the plan or account.

Emerging Markets Value Portfolio Summary Prospectus 7

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase the Portfolio through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Portfolio and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of the Portfolio shares and/or related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

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Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

6300 Bee Cave Road, Building One

Austin, TX 78746

(512) 306-7400

RRD070819-DFEVX

00233065

LOGO

Emerging Markets Value Portfolio

SHARE CLASS (TICKER): CLASS R2 (DFEPX)

Summary Prospectus

February 28, 2019

(as amended July 8, 2019)

Before you invest, you may want to review the Portfolio’s Prospectus, which contains more information about the Portfolio and its risks. You can find the Portfolio’s Prospectus and other information about the Portfolio, including the Statement of Additional Information (SAI) and most recent reports to shareholders, when available, online at https://us.dimensional.com/fund-documents. You can also get this information at no cost by calling collect to (512) 306-7400 or by sending an e-mail request to document_requests@dimensional.com, or from your financial intermediary. The Portfolio’s Prospectus and SAI, both dated February 28, 2019, as may be supplemented, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus.

Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Emerging Markets Value Portfolio (the “Emerging Markets Value Portfolio”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation. The Emerging Markets Value Portfolio is a Feeder Portfolio and pursues its objective by investing substantially all of its assets in its corresponding Master Fund, the Dimensional Emerging Markets Value Fund (the “Emerging Markets Value Fund” or “Master Fund”), which has the same investment objective and policies as the Portfolio.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold Class R2 shares of the Emerging Markets Value Portfolio.

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)*


Management Fee	0.60%
Other Expenses:
Shareholder Services Fees	0.25%	**
Other Expenses	0.05%
Total Other Expenses	0.30%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	0.90%
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement	0.10%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement	0.80%

The “Management Fee” includes an investment management fee payable by the Feeder Portfolio and an investment management fee payable by the Master Fund. For any period when the Feeder Portfolio is invested in other funds managed by Dimensional Fund Advisor LP (the “Advisor”) (collectively, “Underlying Funds”), the Advisor has contractually agreed to permanently waive the Feeder Portfolio’s direct investment management fee to the extent necessary to offset the proportionate share of any Underlying Fund’s investment management fee paid by the Feeder Portfolio through its investment in such Underlying Fund. The amounts set forth under “Other Expenses” and “Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses” reflect the direct expenses of the Feeder Portfolio and the indirect expenses of the Feeder Portfolio’s portion of the expenses of the Master Fund.

**	An amount up to 0.25% of the average net assets of the Portfolio’s Class R2 shares may be used to compensate service agents that provide shareholder servicing, record keeping, account maintenance and other services to investors in the Portfolio’s Class R2 shares (“Shareholder Services Agent”).

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EXAMPLE

This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the Emerging Markets Value 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 the operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:



1 Year			3 Years			5 Years			10 Years
	$	82		$	255		$	444		$	990

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

Principal Investment Strategies

Emerging Markets Value Portfolio Summary Prospectus 3

Markets Value Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets in emerging markets investments that are defined in the Prospectus as Approved Markets securities. The Emerging Markets Value Fund may purchase emerging market equity securities across all market capitalizations.

The Emerging Markets Value Fund may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.

Principal Risks

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 Emerging Markets Value Fund that owns them, and, in turn, the Emerging Markets Value Portfolio itself, to rise or fall. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.

Emerging Markets Risk: Numerous emerging market countries have a history of, and continue to experience serious, and potentially continuing, economic and

4 Dimensional Fund Advisors

political problems. Stock markets in many emerging market countries are relatively small, expensive to trade 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.

Emerging Markets Value Portfolio Summary Prospectus 5

Performance

The returns presented for the Class R2 shares (formerly the Class R2A shares) of the Emerging Markets Value Portfolio reflect the performance of a predecessor share class (the “Predecessor Share Class”). The Portfolio adopted the performance of the Predecessor Share Class as a result of a conversion in which the shares of the Predecessor Share Class were converted into Class R2A shares. The Class R2A shares were subsequently renamed Class R2 shares. The bar chart and table immediately following illustrate the variability of the Emerging Markets Value 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 performance of the Portfolio’s Class R2 shares from year to year. The table illustrates how annualized one year, five year and ten year returns of the Class R2 shares of the Portfolio compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Emerging Markets Value Portfolio’s past performance is not an indication of future results. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained by visiting http://us.dimensional.com.

Emerging Markets Value Portfolio Class R2 Shares—Total Returns

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January 2009-December 2018
Highest Quarter		Lowest Quarter
44.77% (4/09–6/09)		-26.93% (7/11–9/11)

Annualized Returns (%)

Periods ending December 31, 2018

1 Year

5 Years

10 Years

Emerging Markets Value Portfolio

Return Before Taxes

-12.13

1.61

7.93

MSCI Emerging Markets Index (net dividends)
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes on sales)

-14.57

1.65

8.02

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Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

•

Jed S. Fogdall, Senior Portfolio Manager and Vice President of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since 2010.

•

Bhanu P. Singh, Senior Portfolio Manager and Vice President of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since 2015.

•

Mary T. Phillips, Senior Portfolio Manager and Vice President of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since 2017.

Purchase and Redemption of Fund Shares

The Class R2 shares of the Portfolio are generally sold only to defined contribution plans, health savings plans, qualified tuition programs and other similar tax-advantaged plans or accounts and employer sponsored non-qualified deferred compensation plans (“Plans”). Investors who are considering an investment in the Portfolio should contact their employer or the Shareholder Services Agent for the Plan for details about the purchase procedures and the classes of shares that are available for purchase. A participant in a Plan or a client of an institution who desires to redeem shares of the Portfolio must furnish a redemption request to the Shareholder Services Agent designated under the Plan or by the institution. All investments are subject to approval of the Advisor.

Tax Information

Emerging Markets Value Portfolio Summary Prospectus 7

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

The Class R2 shares of the Portfolio may pay financial intermediaries (such as Shareholder Services Agents) for performing certain shareholder services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your Shareholder Services Agent or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

8 Dimensional Fund Advisors

[THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK]

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

6300 Bee Cave Road, Building One

Austin, TX 78746

(512) 306-7400

RRD070819-DFEPX

00233066