Dimensional Fund Advisors Named "Retirement Leader of the Year"

AUSTIN, Texas, April 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dimensional Fund Advisors, a leading global investment management firm that has developed an innovative target date solution designed to reduce uncertainty around the consumption that a plan participant's savings can support in retirement, is honored to be recognized as "2017 Retirement Leader of the Year" by Fund Intelligence, sponsor of the 24th Mutual Fund Industry Awards.

Presented during a ceremony at Cipriani 42nd Street^® in New York City, the award is given to "a firm that has made a key impact on growing retirement assets with unique retirement solutions, marketing campaigns and significant contributions to the retirement industry at large," according to Fund Intelligence. The judging period was from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2016.

"We are honored to receive this kind of recognition," said Eduardo Repetto, Dimensional's Co-CEO and Co-Chief Investment Officer. "It represents years of dedicated research on life cycle solutions. We have worked closely with Nobel laureate Robert Merton, clients, advisors, consultants, and recordkeepers in order to provide transparent low-cost investment solutions as well as benchmarking and reporting tools designed specifically for participants saving for retirement."

Dimensional is a well-established leader in the Defined Contribution ("DC") arena with nearly $47 billion in dedicated DC assets as of December 31, 2016. The firm was also ranked ninth in the 2016 PLANADVISER Retirement Plan Adviser Survey of the top 20 fund families preferred by plan advisers.   

Next Generation Retirement Solutions
The main challenge of retirement planning is managing the uncertainty of future income. Dimensional believes a smart income-focused solution should take into account the investment risks that affect retirement income, such as rising inflation and changes in interest rates.

Dimensional's Target Date Retirement Income Funds are professionally managed mutual funds designed to offer a convenient, long-term solution for investors who expect to retire in or around a particular year. The Funds are diversified across a mix of asset classes that include stocks and bonds, and over time the investment emphasis of the Funds shifts from income growth to income risk management. This shift means more portfolio assets are invested in inflation-protected securities to manage future risks to retirement income.

"If we are going to have progress in the area of investing and finance, the innovation has to come from better and safer financial services," said David Booth, Dimensional's founder and Executive Chairman. "That's what will lift us all up, and that's exactly what we are trying to do with our retirement solutions. So it's very gratifying to see our efforts celebrated."

Measuring Effectiveness
To help measure effectiveness relative to an income-focused goal, Dimensional worked collaboratively with S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) to develop the glide path, inflation hedging, and duration hedging techniques used in the S&P Shift To Retirement Income and DEcumulation (STRIDE) Index series, launched in January 2016. This is the first Index to blend the process of wealth creation with the need to mitigate uncertainty of in-retirement consumption. By considering both key retirement risks and post-retirement income needs for an individual in its methodology, the Index series seeks to provide an enhanced target date benchmark for strategies that follow a liability-driven investing philosophy.

About the 24th Annual Mutual Fund Industry Awards
The Mutual Fund Industry Awards recognize and reward the people and organizations whose excellence, achievements, and contributions to the industry have stood out over the past 12 months. Nominations are made by the editorial staff of industry publications Fund Action and Fund Direction, which are part of the Fund Intelligence Group, a provider of financial services sector information products. The 24th Mutual Fund Industry Awards were presented at an evening ceremony and dinner on March 30, 2017.

About Dimensional
Dimensional Fund Advisors is a leading global investment firm that has been translating academic research into practical investment solutions since 1981. Guided by a strong belief in markets, we help investors pursue higher expected returns through advanced portfolio design and careful implementation. With clients around the world, Dimensional has 12 offices in eight countries and global assets under management of $497 billion as of March 31, 2017. Learn more at us.dimensional.com.

Retirement Thought Leadership:
Harvard Business Review: The Crisis in Retirement Planning, by Robert Merton
How Much Should I Save for Retirement, by Dimensional's Massi De Santis and Marlena Lee

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP is an investment advisor registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Consider the investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses of the Dimensional funds carefully before investing. For this and other information about the Dimensional funds, please read the prospectus carefully before investing. Prospectuses are available by calling Dimensional Fund Advisors collect at (512) 306-7400 or at us.dimensional.com. Dimensional funds are distributed by DFA Securities LLC.

Target date funds are designed to target a year in which an investor may withdraw funds for retirement or other purposes. Investments in target date funds are subject to the risks of their underlying funds, and asset allocations are subject to change over time in accordance with each fund's prospectus. An investment in a retirement income from a target date portfolio is not guaranteed at any time, including on or after the target date. An investment in a target date portfolio does not eliminate the need for investors to decide --before investing and periodically thereafter--whether the portfolio fits their financial situation. For more information, please refer to the prospectus. There is no guarantee this investment strategy will be successful, and it is possible to lose money with this investment. For more information regarding Dimensional's Target Date Retirement Income Funds, please refer to the prospectus.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP receives compensation from S&P Dow Jones Indices in connection with licensing rights to S&P STRIDE Indices. Robert Merton provides consulting services to Dimensional Fund Advisors LP.

SOURCE Dimensional Fund Advisors

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