Vanguard had tremendous growth in 2014. An intake of $214.5 billion last year pushed this fund giant’s total assets to $3.1 trillion as of December 31, 2014. That growth represents a 56% increase for Vanguard compared to 2013. Early this year, they passed State Street Global Advisors as the second-largest exchange-traded fund provider as they close in on the top dog BlackRock. Dimensional Fund Advisors (Dimensional or DFA funds for short) is another fund company that has been experiencing strong inflows. DFA funds added nearly $28 billion in assets in 2014, which was the third highest dollar amount of inflows last year, trailing only Vanguard and JPMorgan Chase. That type of growth is doubly impressive because Dimensional Fund Advisors flies under the radar of many investors. Last year’s growth, however (not to mention a relatively steady inflow of assets since its 1981 founding), makes it clear that investors are attracted to DFA. What explains its rising-rock-star appeal, given its (yawn) nerdy tagline, “putting financial science to work”? Maybe it’s the firm’s laser-like focus and steadfast approach to applying academic research into the factors or “dimensions” that are expected to generate long-term wealth – fads and fashions be damned. For this blogger, anyway, it’s hard not to prefer that level of discipline to the usual frenzy involved in active stock picking and reactionary market timing. Then again, Vanguard’s index and exchange-traded funds are no flashes in the pan either, also built on an investment strategy of substance. Admittedly, it can be confusing at a glance to understand how these two similar, but different fund companies compare. Let’s take a closer look at nine characteristics that help differentiate them from the crowd … and from each other. See the full blog post at https://pathwayplanning.com/9-reasons-investors-loving-vanguard-dfa-funds/