Question:

To what degree, if any, does your Dimensional Fund Advisors 50 percent equity portfolio have exposure to gold and other commodities?  I’m looking for an overview, not a lot of details.

Click here to read Merriman's answer!

LARRY KATZ:

The answer I’m going to give you isn’t quite as precise as it may look, because the breakdown available to us is organized by sectors. The equity part of our DFA tax-deferred portfolio includes 8.6 percent exposure to the materials sector, which includes gold, and 7.6 percent exposure to the energy sector, for a total of 16.2 percent. In our tax-managed DFA portfolio, the figures are 9.4 percent for materials and 8.4 percent for energy, for a total of 17.8 percent.

•    In a 50 percent equity portfolio, the figures would be half of those above.

Larry Katz is director of research at Merriman.