The Short-Duration Real Return Portfolio pursues its investment objective by investing in a combination of debt securities, including inflation-protected securities, and derivative instruments. The Portfolio will maintain a weighted average duration of three years or less. In making purchase decisions, if the expected term premium is greater for longer-term securities in the eligible maturity range, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (the “Advisor”) will focus investment in the longer-term area, otherwise, the Portfolio will focus investment in the shorter-term area of the eligible maturity range. The fixed income securities in which the Portfolio invests are considered investment grade at the time of purchase (e.g., rated AAA to BBB- by S&P Global Ratings (“S&P”) or Fitch Ratings Ltd. (“Fitch”) or Aaa to Baa3 by Moody’s Investor’s Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”)). The Portfolio generally invests with an emphasis on debt securities rated A+ to BBB- by S&P or Fitch or A1 to Baa3 by Moody’s. The Portfolio will increase or decrease investment exposure to lower-rated investment grade securities (i.e., those rated A+ to BBB- by S&P or Fitch or A1

to Baa3 by Moody’s) depending on the expected credit premium. Duration is a measure of the sensitivity of a security’s price to changes in interest rates. The longer a security’s duration, the more sensitive it will be to changes in interest rates.

The Short-Duration Real Return Portfolio may invest in inflation protected securities, obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. and foreign governments, their agencies and instrumentalities, corporate debt obligations, bank obligations, commercial paper, repurchase agreements, money market funds, securities of domestic or foreign issuers denominated in U.S. dollars but not trading in the United States, and obligations of supranational organizations. The Advisor expects that the Portfolio will primarily invest in the obligations of issuers that are in developed countries. In addition, the Portfolio is authorized to invest more than 25% of its total assets in U.S. Treasury bonds, bills and notes, and obligations of federal agencies and instrumentalities.

The Short-Duration Real Return Portfolio may enter into swaps, such as inflation swaps, to seek inflation protection. The Portfolio also may enter into credit default swaps on issuers or indices to buy or sell credit protection to hedge its credit exposure; gain market or issuer exposure without owning the underlying securities; or increase the Portfolio’s total return. The Portfolio also may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts, to hedge its interest rate or currency exposure or for non-hedging purposes, such as a substitute for direct investment or to increase or decrease market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio. The Portfolio may use foreign currency forward contracts to attempt to protect against uncertainty in the level of future foreign currency rates, to hedge against fluctuations in currency exchange rates or to transfer balances from one currency to another.

The Short-Duration Real Return Portfolio may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.