In an attempt to strengthen public trust in some of the nation's largest institutional investors, the United States Congress instituted the requirement for 13F disclosure in 1975. Since then, certain investment managers have been required to file 13F formsevery quarter, disclosing their investments over the preceding three months. Form 13F filings can be accessed freely via the SEC's EDGAR system – so for all intents and purposes,this information is publicly available.
The lawonly applies to institutional investment managers with at least $100,000,000 in assets under management (AUM), requiring full disclosure of their current investments in the preceding calendar quarter every year. These investors are legally required to submit their 13F filingsno later than 45 daysafter the end of a quarter.
Since this effectively means that after each quarter of the year, the public can scrutinize these investors' holdings in some detail, many people have come to rely on this information to inform their own decisions. They assume that, since these powerful investment managers have both the money and the talent required tomake the most informed investment decisions, mimicking their actions allows other investors to benefit from their research, insight and experience.
