Which returned more over the last year, DFIC or IEFA?

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFIC returned +17.4% and IEFA +13.9%.

Which is cheaper, DFIC or IEFA?

IEFA is cheaper, by 0.15 percentage points a year. That is about $15 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do DFIC and IEFA overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFIC and 0% of IEFA by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

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DFIC vs IEFA: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFIC and IEFA hold 43% of their weight in the same names, and DFIC returned +17.4% over the year. Net assets: $14.8bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF, and $189.5bn on Oct 9, 2026 for iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF.

IEFA costs 0.15 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 3.5 points; IEFA is 12.8 times larger.

	DFIC	IEFA
Expense ratio	0.22%	0.07%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026	$14.8bn	$190.1bn
Total return, 1 year	+17.4%	+13.9%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	MSCI EAFE IMI Index
Holdings in common	43%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	6.9%	12.2%
Below its high	4.8%, high on Aug 25, 2026

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 8, 2026.

+17.4%

DFIC total return, 1 year

+13.9%

IEFA total return, 1 year

0.22%

DFIC expense ratio

0.07%

IEFA expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFIC and IEFA hold 43% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice. Holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 8, 2026.

50%

half

43% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFIC IEFA

ASML Holding N.V. 1.05% 2.87%

SHELL PLC 0.98% 1.17%

Novartis AG 0.76% 1.05%

TOTALENERGIES SE 0.72% 0.68%

Nestle S.A. 0.62% 0.95%

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC 0.49% 1.26%

Allianz SE 0.48% 0.71%

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. 0.48% 0.58%

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION 0.46% 0.70%

ROLLS-ROYCE HOLDINGS PLC 0.45% 0.61%

BHP GROUP LIMITED 0.42% 0.88%

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. 0.36% 0.95%

Only in DFIC

ROYAL BANK OF CANADA 0.67%

Deutsche Telekom AG 0.41%

BP P.L.C. 0.40%

UNICREDIT, SOCIETA PER AZIONI 0.40%

Bayer Aktiengesellschaft 0.38%

Suncor Energy Inc. 0.35%

THE TORONTO-DOMINION BANK 0.35%

BASF SE 0.33%

Only in IEFA

ROCHE PS PAR AG 1.20%

SIEMENS N AG 0.87%

SIEMENS ENERGY N AG 0.50%

BP PLC 0.49%

NOVO NORDISK CLASS B 0.49%

LAIR LIQUIDE SOCIETE ANONYME POUR 0.48%

UNICREDIT 0.46%

BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO 0.45%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

DFIC

Dimensional International Core Equity 2 ETF

IEFA

iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer Dimensional iShares

What it is Actively managed Tracks the MSCI EAFE

Total return, 1 year +17.4% +13.9%

S&P 500 over the same days +17.3% +17.3%

Gap to the S&P 500 +0.2 pts −3.3 pts

Expense ratio 0.22% 0.07%

Already in the S&P 500 0.1% 0.0%

Holdings 4118 2628

Net assets, DFIC as of Jul 31, 2026 and IEFA as of Oct 9, 2026 $14.8bn $189.5bn

DFIC and IEFA on the fields both publish, as of Oct 9, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

DFIC in plain words

DFIC is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +17.4% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.22% a year. By its holdings filed for Jul 31, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 4,118 positions, with the top ten at 6.9%. It sat 4.8% below its high of Aug 25, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

IEFA in plain words

IEFA tracks the MSCI EAFE. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +13.9% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.07% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 8, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 2,628 positions, with the top ten at 12.2%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, DFIC or IEFA?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFIC returned +17.4% and IEFA +13.9%.
Which is cheaper, DFIC or IEFA?: IEFA is cheaper, by 0.15 percentage points a year. That is about $15 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do DFIC and IEFA overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFIC and 0% of IEFA by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

DFIC vs VXUS DFIC vs VEA DFIC vs EFA DFIC vs VEU IEFA vs VSGX IEFA vs SPDW IEFA vs IMTM IEFA vs IXUS

DFIC on its own →IEFA on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

DFIC filings on SEC EDGAR ↗DFIC prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗Dimensional website ↗IEFA filings on SEC EDGAR ↗IEFA prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗iShares page for IEFA ↗

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure; a link is not an endorsement. A comparison is not a recommendation.

How this is computed

Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, DFIC against IEFA, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dfic-vs-iefa

Open data

Free to use with attribution for figures ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.