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Oct. 31, 2024
Prospectus Summary | DFA Municipal Real Return Portfolio
DFA Municipal Real Return Portfolio
Investment Objective

The investment objective of the DFA Municipal Real Return Portfolio (the “Municipal Real Return Portfolio” or the “Portfolio”) is to seek inflation protection and to provide current income from municipal securities.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold or sell shares of the Portfolio. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and Example below.

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
Prospectus Summary
DFA Municipal Real Return Portfolio
Institutional Class
Management Fee 0.20%
Other Expenses 0.04%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 0.24%
EXAMPLE

This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the Portfolio with the cost of investing in other 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. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs whether you redeem or hold your shares would be:

Expense Example
Prospectus Summary
DFA Municipal Real Return Portfolio
Institutional Class
USD ($)
1 Year $ 25
3 Years 77
5 Years 135
10 Years $ 306
Expense Example, No Redemption
Prospectus Summary
DFA Municipal Real Return Portfolio
Institutional Class
USD ($)
1 Year $ 25
3 Years 77
5 Years 135
10 Years $ 306
PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

A 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 fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, 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 Portfolio's portfolio turnover rate was 104% of the average value of its investment portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Municipal Real Return Portfolio seeks its investment objective by investing primarily in a universe of investment grade municipal securities, including inflation-protected municipal securities, and in derivative instruments to provide inflation protection. Municipal securities in which the Portfolio may invest include, among others, revenue bonds, general obligation bonds, industrial development bonds, municipal lease obligations, commercial paper, variable rate demand obligations and other instruments (including participation interests in such securities) issued by or on behalf of the states, territories and possessions of the United States (including the District of Columbia) and their political subdivisions, agencies and instrumentalities. The interest on the municipal securities purchased by the Portfolio, in the opinion of bond counsel for the issuers and under current tax law, is exempt from federal income tax (i.e., excludable from gross income for individuals for federal income tax purposes but not necessarily exempt from state or local taxes). As a fundamental investment policy, under normal market conditions, the Portfolio will invest at

least 80% of its net assets in municipal securities that pay interest exempt from federal income tax. The Portfolio does not currently intend to invest its assets in municipal securities whose interest is subject to the federal alternative minimum tax.

Under normal circumstances, the Municipal Real Return Portfolio will maintain a weighted average duration of no greater than five years. If a security has been redeemed by the issuer at a date prior to the stated final maturity date for the purposes of the above duration restriction, the early redemption date shall be considered the maturity date regardless of the stated final maturity. Duration is a measure of the sensitivity of a security’s price to changes in interest rates. The longer a security’s duration, the more sensitive it will be to changes in interest rates.

At least 75% of the assets of the Municipal Real Return Portfolio will be invested in municipal securities that, at the time of purchase, are rated in the top three credit-rating categories (e.g., Aaa, Aa and A for Moody’s Investor’s Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) or AAA, AA and A for S&P Global Ratings (“S&P”) or Fitch Ratings Ltd. (“Fitch”), or an equivalent rating assigned by another nationally recognized statistical rating organization, or that are unrated but have been determined by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the “Advisor”) to be of comparable quality). No more than 25% of the Portfolio’s assets will be invested in municipal securities that, at the time of purchase, are rated in the lowest quarter of the investment grade spectrum (e.g., rated Baa1 to Baa3 (by Moody’s) or BBB+ to BBB- (by S&P or Fitch), or an equivalent rating assigned by another nationally recognized statistical rating organization, or that are unrated but have been determined by the Advisor to be of comparable quality). The fixed income securities in which the Portfolio invests are considered investment grade at the time of purchase.

Municipal securities are often issued to obtain funds for various public purposes, including the construction of a wide range of public facilities, such as bridges, highways, housing, hospitals, mass transportation facilities, schools, streets and public utilities, such as water and sewer works. Municipal securities include municipal leases, certificates of participation, municipal obligation components and municipal custody receipts. The Municipal Real Return Portfolio may invest more than 25% of its assets in municipal securities issued to finance projects in a particular segment of the bond market including, but not limited to, health care, housing, education, utilities, and transportation. The Portfolio also may invest more than 25% of its assets in industrial development bonds.

The Municipal Real Return Portfolio may (1) purchase certain municipal securities that are insured, (2) invest in municipal securities secured by mortgages on single-family homes and multi-family projects, (3) invest in pre-refunded municipal securities, (4) purchase tax-exempt municipal securities on a “when-issued” basis, and (5) use derivatives, such as fixed income related futures and options contracts, credit default swaps and interest rate swaps, to hedge against changes in interest rates. The Portfolio may also invest in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to gain exposure to the municipal bond market pending investment in municipal bonds. The Portfolio may also invest in money market funds.

The Municipal Real Return Portfolio may enter into swaps, such as inflation swaps, to seek inflation protection. The Portfolio also may enter into credit default swaps on issuers or indices to buy or sell credit protection to hedge its credit exposure; gain market or issuer exposure without owning the underlying securities; or increase the Portfolio’s total return. The Portfolio also may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts, to hedge its interest rate exposure or for non-hedging purposes, such as a substitute for direct investment or to increase or decrease market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio.

Although the Municipal Real Return Portfolio attempts to invest all of its assets in tax-exempt securities, it is possible, although not anticipated, that a portion of its assets may be invested in securities that pay taxable interest, including interest that may be subject to the federal alternative minimum tax. These investments could generate taxable income for shareholders.

Principal Risks
Risk Table - Prospectus Summary - DFA Municipal Real Return Portfolio
Risk [Text Block]
Principal Risks

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.

Risk Lose Money [Member] Because the value of your investment in the Portfolio will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money.
Risk Not Insured [Member] 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.
Market Risk

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 securities, and a fund that owns them, to rise or fall.

Interest Rate Risk

Interest Rate Risk: Fixed income securities are subject to interest rate risk because the prices of fixed income securities tend to move in the opposite direction of interest rates. When interest rates rise, fixed income security prices fall. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, a fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates. When interest rates fall, fixed income security prices rise. In general, fixed income securities with longer maturities are more sensitive to changes in interest rates.

Credit Risk

Credit Risk: Credit risk is the risk that the issuer of a security, including a governmental entity, may be unable to make interest payments and/or repay principal when due. A downgrade to an issuer’s credit rating or a perceived change in an issuer’s financial strength may affect a security’s value, and thus, impact the performance of a fund holding such securities. The ability of a municipal securities issuer to make payments could be affected by litigation, legislation or other political events or the bankruptcy of the issuer.

Inflation-Protected Securities Interest Rate Risk

Inflation-Protected Securities Interest Rate Risk: Inflation-protected securities may react differently from other fixed income securities to changes in interest rates. Because interest rates on inflation-protected securities are adjusted for inflation, the values of these securities are not materially affected by inflation expectations. Therefore, the value of inflation-protected securities are anticipated to change in response to changes in “real” interest rates, which represent nominal (stated) interest rates reduced by the expected impact of inflation. Generally, the value of an inflation-protected security will fall when real interest rates rise and will rise when real interest rates fall.

Inflation-Protected Securities Tax Risk

Inflation-Protected Securities Tax Risk: Any increase in the principal amount of an inflation-protected security may be included for tax purposes in a fund’s gross income, even though no cash attributable to such gross income has been received by a fund. In such event, a fund may be required to make annual gross distributions to shareholders that exceed the cash it has otherwise received. In order to pay such distributions, a fund may be required to raise cash by selling its investments. The sale of such investments could result in capital gains to a fund and additional capital gain distributions to shareholders. In addition, adjustments during the taxable year for deflation to an inflation-indexed bond held by a fund may cause amounts previously distributed to shareholders in the taxable year as income to be characterized as a return of capital.

Risks of Investing for Inflation Protection

Risks of Investing for Inflation Protection: Because the interest and/or principal payments on an inflation-protected security are adjusted periodically for changes in inflation, the income distributed by a fund investing in such securities may be irregular. Although the U.S. Treasury guarantees to pay at maturity at least the original face value of any inflation-protected securities the Treasury issues, other issuers may not offer the same guarantee. Inflation-protected securities are not protected against deflation. As a result, in a period of deflation, the principal and income of inflation-protected securities held by a fund will decline and the fund may suffer a loss during such periods. While inflation-protected securities are expected to be protected from long-term inflationary trends, short-term increases in inflation may lead to a decline in the value of a fund holding such securities. For example, if interest rates rise due to reasons other than inflation, a fund’s investment in these securities may not be protected to the extent that the increase is not reflected in the securities’ inflation measures. In addition, positive adjustments to principal generally will result in taxable income to a fund at the time of such adjustments (which generally would be distributed by the fund as part of its taxable dividends), even though the principal amount is not paid until maturity. The current market value of inflation-protected securities is not guaranteed and will fluctuate.

Income Risk

Income Risk: Income risk is the risk that falling interest rates will cause a fund’s income to decline because, among other reasons, the proceeds from maturing short-term securities in its portfolio may be reinvested in lower-yielding securities.

Call Risk

Call Risk: Call risk is the risk that during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer will call or repay a higher-yielding fixed income security before its maturity date, forcing a fund to reinvest in fixed income securities with lower interest rates than the original obligations.

Tax Liability Risk

Tax Liability Risk: Tax liability risk is the risk that distributions by a fund become taxable to shareholders due to noncompliant conduct by a municipal bond issuer, unfavorable changes in federal or state tax laws, or adverse interpretations of tax laws by the Internal Revenue Service or state tax authorities or other factors. Such adverse interpretations or actions could cause interest from a security to become taxable, possibly retroactively, subjecting shareholders to increased tax liability. In addition, such adverse interpretations or actions could cause the value of a

security, and therefore, the value of a fund’s shares, to decline. Additionally, if a fund's use of derivative instruments for hedging and non-hedging purposes cause the fund to invest less than 50% of its assets in municipal securities in any quarter, which a fund does not anticipate, the fund may fail to qualify to pay exempt-interest dividends to its shareholders, resulting in the distributions by the fund becoming taxable to shareholders as ordinary income.

Municipal Securities Risk

Municipal Securities Risk: The risk of a municipal security generally depends on the financial and credit status of the issuer. Municipal securities can be significantly affected by political, regulatory or economic changes, including changes made in the law after issuance of the securities, as well as uncertainties in the municipal market related to taxation, legislative changes or the rights of municipal security holders, including in connection with an issuer’s insolvency.

Municipal Project-Specific Risk

Municipal Project-Specific Risk: A fund may be more sensitive to adverse economic, business or political developments if it invests a substantial portion of its assets in municipal securities that finance similar types of projects in a segment of the municipal bond market (such as education, health care, housing, education, utilities or transportation) or industrial development bonds. A change that affects one project in a particular segment of the market, such as proposed legislation on the financing of the project, a shortage of the materials needed for the project, or a declining need for the project, would likely affect all similar projects, thereby increasing market risk.

Variable Rate Demand Obligations Risk

Variable Rate Demand Obligations Risk: Certain variable rate demand obligations (“VRDOs”) may not have an active secondary market. These VRDOs could be difficult to dispose of if the remarketing agent defaults on its payment obligation and/or if the fund is not entitled to exercise its demand rights, which could cause a loss with respect to such VRDOs.

Derivatives Risk

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as swaps, futures contracts, and options thereon, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. Derivatives can be used for hedging (attempting to reduce risk by offsetting one investment position with another) or non-hedging purposes. Hedging with derivatives may increase expenses, and there is no guarantee that a hedging strategy will work. While hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains or cause losses if the market moves in a manner different from that anticipated by a fund or if the cost of the derivative outweighs the benefit of the hedge. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When a fund uses derivatives, the 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, 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 a fund could lose more than the principal amount invested. Additional risks are associated with the use of swaps including counterparty and credit risk (the risk that the other party to a swap agreement will not fulfill its contractual obligations, whether because of bankruptcy or other default) and liquidity risk (the possible lack of a secondary market for the swap agreement). Credit risk increases when a fund is the seller of swaps and counterparty risk increases when the fund is a buyer of swaps. In addition, where a fund is the seller of swaps, it may be required to liquidate portfolio securities at inopportune times in order to meet payment obligations. Swaps may be illiquid or difficult to value. Additionally, payments made or received by a fund under such derivatives may increase the amount of distributions taxable to you as ordinary income, increase or decrease the amount of capital gain distributions to you and/or decrease the amount available for distribution to you as exempt-interest dividends.

Liquidity Risk

Liquidity Risk: Liquidity risk exists when particular portfolio investments are difficult to purchase or sell. To the extent that a fund holds illiquid investments, the fund’s performance may be reduced due to an inability to sell the investments at opportune prices or times. Liquid portfolio investments may become illiquid or less liquid after purchase by a fund due to low trading volume, adverse investor perceptions and/or other market developments. Liquidity risk includes the risk that a fund will experience significant net redemptions at a time when it cannot find willing buyers for its portfolio securities or can only sell its portfolio securities at a material loss or at increased costs. Liquidity risk can be more pronounced in periods of market turmoil or in situations where ownership of shares of a fund are concentrated in one or a few investors.

Operational Risk

Operational Risk: Operational risks include human error, changes in personnel, system changes, faults in communication, and failures in systems, technology, or processes. Various operational events or circumstances are outside a fund’s or its advisor’s control, including instances at third parties. A fund and its advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, measures that seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures may not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address these risks.

Cyber Security Risk

Cyber Security Risk: A fund and its service providers’ use of internet, technology and information systems may expose the fund 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 fund 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 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 returns for certain periods, both before and after taxes, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The table also includes the performance of an additional index with a similar investment universe as the Portfolio. 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 https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/funds.

The after-tax returns presented in the table for the 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.

DFA Municipal Real Return Portfolio Institutional Class Shares —Total Returns
Bar Chart
Annualized Returns (%)
Average Annual Total Returns - Prospectus Summary - DFA Municipal Real Return Portfolio
Label
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Institutional Class Return Before Taxes 3.10% 2.98% 2.54%
Institutional Class | After Taxes on Distributions Return After Taxes on Distributions 2.82% 2.93% 2.52%
Institutional Class | After Taxes on Distributions and Sales Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares 3.01% 2.68% 2.32%
S&P Intermediate Term National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Index S&P Intermediate Term National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Index      
S&P Intermediate Term National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Index   1.22% 1.19% 2.07%
S&P National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Index S&P National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Index      
S&P National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Index   1.32% 1.07% 2.23%