Detailed research into the sources of investment returns (Fama, Eugene F. and Kenneth R. French. "Industry Costs of Equity." Journal of Financial Economics 43 (1997), 153-93.) concludes that industries, or companies' products, are not a factor in expected stock returns. Industry effects can influence prices, but in a seemingly random, short-term way that can be mitigated in a diversified strategy. Therefore, industry effects, though they pose risks that are worth taking into account, are not a primary variable on which to sort securities for investment purposes.

Firms developing new technologies have no assurance of earning above-average long-run profits. The competitive forces in a free market work constantly to disperse the benefits of innovation throughout the economy. The retailer using new high-speed computers to cut inventory costs, for example, may reap greater economic rewards than the company who developed them. And if competition pressures the retailer to pass the resulting savings along in the form of lower prices, the ultimate beneficiary is the consumer. Even if one could correctly predict technological trends, identifying the winners from an investment standpoint becomes an elusive exercise.

Consider the birth of the personal computer industry in the early 1980s and its subsequent explosive growth. Industry pioneers IBM and Apple Computer were responsible for many innovations, yet shares of both firms have lagged the broad stock market: total return for the 20-year period ending December 2001 was 333% for Apple Computer, 1360% for IBM, and 1606% for the S&P 500 index (Center for Research in Security Prices, University of Chicago; Ibbotson Associates).

Buying stocks for the funds is a detailed process but can be described in general terms. We create an eligible universe of all traded stocks of real operating companies. We then apply filters to exclude stocks that do not fit the asset class of the fund or that have specific pricing or trading concerns. The remaining stocks are eligible for purchase and are subject to rough market-capitalization target weights. We regularly monitor trading in the market place with real-time checks for current news that may impact prices, such as a looming takeover. Other than that, we're generally indifferent among the stocks in the eligible universe, which allows us to trade opportunistically and take advantage of liquidity premiums that benefit client returns. For additional information regarding the investment strategies of each fund, please read each fund's prospectus and statement of additional information carefully.

The Efficient Market Hypothesis says that market prices are fair: they fully reflect all available information. This does not mean that prices are perfect; some prices may be too high and some too low, but there is no reliable way to tell. In an efficient market, investors cannot expect to earn above-average profits without assuming above-average risks. Market efficiency does not suggest that investors can't "win." Over any period of time, some investors will beat the market, but the number of investors who do so will be no greater than expected by chance.

Dimensional believes that five factors explain the vast majority of returns in diversified portfolios (market, size, and value for equities; term risk and default risk for fixed income). They also appear to explain the behaviour of hybrid asset classes such as high yield bonds or convertible securities. In general, Dimensional believes the behaviour of these asset classes can be captured more reliably and at lower cost by using some combination of structured equity strategies combined with high-grade short-term fixed income securities.

Dimensional's fixed income approach is "passive" in one sense—it involves no interest rate or economic forecasting—but is "active" in implementation. Research conducted by Eugene Fama at the University of Chicago suggests a shifting-maturity strategy that targets segments of the yield curve with the highest expected return can add value relative to a conventional indexed approach. The optimal maturity targets are constantly reviewed using information provided in the yield curve, and transactions are made if the increase in expected return exceeds the cost of making the trade. Annual portfolio turnover in excess of 100% is not unusual. An important element of the shifting maturity strategy is a focus exclusively on short-term instruments with the highest credit quality. These issues are very liquid, and can be traded at very low cost.

For investors who define risk solely as the variability of returns, such a strategy might be appropriate. Whether such investors actually exist is debatable. Most investors are probably sensitive to the risk of being different from the market, even if overall variability is no higher. Value stocks do not outperform market portfolios regularly or predictably—if they did, they would not be riskier. To the extent an investor is likely to be disappointed with performance that differs from a market portfolio, a tilt toward value stocks should be undertaken cautiously!

A shareholder must own shares on the record date in order to be entitled to distributions. The following business day is the ex-dividend date, when distributions or capital gains are deducted from the fund's assets or set aside to be paid to the shareholder. On this day, the fund's net asset value decreases by the amount of distribution to be paid out, plus or minus any market activity. The distributions are actually scheduled to be paid on the payable date.