American High-Income Municipal Bond Fund®

Summary prospectus

October 1, 2022

 

 

             
Class A C T F-1 F-2 F-3
  AMHIX AHICX TAHHX ABHFX AHMFX HIMFX
 
Before you invest, you may want to review the fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information, which contain more information about the fund and its risks. You can find the fund’s prospectus, statement of additional information, reports to shareholders and other information about the fund online at capitalgroup.com/prospectus. You can also get this information at no cost by calling (800) 421-4225 or by sending an email request to prospectus@americanfunds.com. The current prospectus and statement of additional information, dated October 1, 2022, are incorporated by reference into this summary prospectus.


 
 

 

Investment objective The fund’s investment objective is to provide you with a high level of current income exempt from regular federal income tax.

Fees and expenses of the fund This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below. For example, in addition to the fees and expenses described below, you may also be required to pay brokerage commissions on purchases and sales of Class F-2 or F-3 shares of the fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $100,000 in American Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional, in the “Sales charge reductions and waivers” sections on page 46 of the prospectus and on page 91 of the fund’s statement of additional information, and in the sales charge waiver appendix to the prospectus.

         
Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Share class: A C T All F share
classes
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on
purchases (as a percentage of offering price)
3.75% none 2.50% none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load)
(as a percentage of the amount redeemed)
0.751 1.00% none none
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on
reinvested dividends
none none none none
Redemption or exchange fees none none none none
             
Annual fund operating expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Share class: A C T F-1 F-2 F-3
Management fees2 0.24% 0.24% 0.24% 0.24% 0.24% 0.24%
Distribution and/or service (12b-1) fees 0.30 1.00 0.25 0.25 none none
Other expenses 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.17 0.15 0.04
Total annual fund operating expenses 0.63 1.33 0.58 0.66 0.39 0.28

1 A contingent deferred sales charge of 0.75% applies on certain redemptions made within 18 months following purchases of $500,000 or more made without an initial sales charge. Contingent deferred sales charge is calculated based on the lesser of the offering price and market value of shares being sold.

2 Restated to reflect current fees.

Example This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same. You may be required to pay brokerage commissions on your purchases and sales of Class F-2 or F-3 shares of the fund, which are not reflected in the example. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

                   
Share class: A C T F-1 F-2 F-3 For the share class listed to the right, you would pay the following if you did not redeem your shares: Share class: C
1 year $437 $235 $308 $67 $40 $29 1 year $135
3 years 569 421 431 211 125 90 3 years 421
5 years 713 729 566 368 219 157 5 years 729
10 years 1,132 1,409 958 822 493 356 10 years 1,409

Portfolio turnover The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund’s investment results. During the most recent fiscal year, the fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 35% of the average value of its portfolio.

1     American High-Income Municipal Bond Fund / Summary prospectus


 
 

 

Principal investment strategies In seeking to achieve its objective, the fund may accept risks to capital value deemed prudent by the fund's investment adviser to take advantage of opportunities for higher current income on municipal bonds. Municipal bonds are debt obligations that pay interest that is exempt from federal taxation, with payments made from a wide variety of sources, including governmental revenue streams and private enterprises.

Under normal circumstances, the fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in, or derive at least 80% of its income from, securities that are exempt from regular federal income tax and may subject you to alternative minimum tax. The fund may invest, without limitation, in securities that may subject you to federal alternative minimum tax. The fund invests at least 50% of its portfolio in debt securities rated BBB+ or below or Baa1 or below by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser, or unrated but determined by the fund’s investment adviser to be of equivalent quality. Securities rated BB+ or below and Ba1 or below are sometimes referred to as “junk bonds.”

The investment adviser uses a system of multiple portfolio managers in managing the fund’s assets. Under this approach, the portfolio of the fund is divided into segments managed by individual managers.

The fund relies on the professional judgment of its investment adviser to make decisions about the fund’s portfolio investments. The basic investment philosophy of the investment adviser is to seek to invest in attractively priced securities that, in its opinion, represent good, long-term investment opportunities. Securities may be sold when the investment adviser believes that they no longer represent relatively attractive investment opportunities.

American High-Income Municipal Bond Fund / Summary prospectus     2


 
 

 

Principal risks This section describes the principal risks associated with investing in the fund. You may lose money by investing in the fund. The likelihood of loss may be greater if you invest for a shorter period of time.

Market conditions — The prices of, and the income generated by, the securities held by the fund may decline – sometimes rapidly or unpredictably – due to various factors, including events or conditions affecting the general economy or particular industries or companies; overall market changes; local, regional or global political, social or economic instability; governmental, governmental agency or central bank responses to economic conditions; and currency exchange rate, interest rate and commodity price fluctuations.

Economies and financial markets throughout the world are highly interconnected. Economic, financial or political events, trading and tariff arrangements, wars, terrorism, cybersecurity events, natural disasters, public health emergencies (such as the spread of infectious disease) and other circumstances in one country or region, including actions taken by governmental or quasi-governmental authorities in response to any of the foregoing, could have impacts on global economies or markets. As a result, whether or not the fund invests in securities of issuers located in or with significant exposure to the countries affected, the value and liquidity of the fund’s investments may be negatively affected by developments in other countries and regions.

Issuer risks — The prices of, and the income generated by, securities held by the fund may decline in response to various factors directly related to the issuers of such securities, including reduced demand for an issuer’s goods or services, poor management performance, major litigation, investigations or other controversies related to the issuer, changes in financial condition or credit rating, changes in government regulations affecting the issuer or its competitive environment and strategic initiatives such as mergers, acquisitions or dispositions and the market response to any such initiatives.

Investing in municipal securities — Municipal securities are debt obligations that are exempt from federal, state and/or local income taxes. The yield and/or value of the fund’s investments in municipal securities may be adversely affected by events tied to the municipal securities markets, which can be very volatile and significantly impacted by unfavorable legislative or political developments and negative changes in the financial conditions of municipal securities issuers and the economy. To the extent the fund invests in obligations of a municipal issuer, the volatility, credit quality and performance of the fund may be adversely impacted by local political and economic conditions of the issuer. For example, a credit rating downgrade, bond default or bankruptcy involving an issuer within a particular state or territory could affect the market values and marketability of many or all municipal obligations of that state or territory. Income from municipal securities held by the fund could also be declared taxable because of changes in tax laws or interpretations by taxing authorities or as a result of noncompliant conduct of a municipal issuer. Additionally, the relative amount of publicly available information about municipal securities is generally less than that for corporate securities.

Investing in debt instruments — The prices of, and the income generated by, bonds and other debt securities held by the fund may be affected by factors such as the interest rates, maturities and credit quality of these securities.

Rising interest rates will generally cause the prices of bonds and other debt securities to fall. Also, when interest rates rise, issuers are less likely to refinance existing debt securities in order to enjoy lower interest rates in a higher interest rate environment, causing the market prices of such securities to decline more than they would have declined due to the rise in interest rates alone. A general rise in interest rates may cause investors to sell debt securities on a large scale, which could also adversely affect the price and liquidity of debt securities and could also result in increased redemptions from the fund. Falling interest rates may cause an issuer to redeem, call or refinance a debt security before its stated maturity, which may result in the fund failing to recoup the full amount of its initial investment and having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities. Longer maturity debt securities generally have greater sensitivity to changes in interest rates and may be subject to greater price fluctuations than shorter maturity debt securities.

Bonds and other debt securities are also subject to credit risk, which is the possibility that the credit strength of an issuer or guarantor will weaken or be perceived to be weaker, and/or an issuer of a debt security will fail to make timely payments of principal or interest and the security will go into default. Changes in actual or perceived creditworthiness may occur quickly. A downgrade or default affecting any of the fund’s securities could cause the value of the fund’s shares to decrease. Lower quality debt securities generally have higher rates of interest and may be subject to greater price fluctuations than higher quality debt securities. Credit risk is gauged, in part, by the credit ratings of the debt securities in which the fund invests. However, ratings are only the opinions of the rating agencies issuing them and are not guarantees as to credit quality or an evaluation of market risk. The fund’s investment adviser relies on its own credit analysts to research issuers and issues in assessing credit and default risks.

3     American High-Income Municipal Bond Fund / Summary prospectus


 
 

 

Liquidity risk — Certain fund holdings may be or may become difficult or impossible to sell, particularly during times of market turmoil. Liquidity may be impacted by the lack of an active market for a holding, legal or contractual restrictions on resale, or the reduced number and capacity of market participants to make a market in such holding. Market prices for less liquid or illiquid holdings may be volatile or difficult to determine, and reduced liquidity may have an adverse impact on the market price of such holdings. During times of market turmoil, there have been, and may be, no buyers or sellers for securities in entire asset classes. Additionally, the sale of less liquid or illiquid holdings may involve substantial delays (including delays in settlement) and additional costs and the fund may be unable to sell such holdings when necessary to meet its liquidity needs, or to try to limit losses, or may be forced to sell at a loss.

Credit and liquidity support — Changes in the credit quality of banks and financial institutions providing credit and liquidity support features with respect to securities held by the fund could cause the values of these securities to decline.

Investing in lower rated debt instruments — Lower rated bonds and other lower rated debt securities generally have higher rates of interest and involve greater risk of default or price declines due to changes in the issuer’s creditworthiness than those of higher quality debt securities. The market prices of these securities may fluctuate more than the prices of higher quality debt securities and may decline significantly in periods of general economic difficulty. These risks may be increased with respect to investments in junk bonds.

Investing in similar municipal bonds — Investing significantly in municipal obligations of multiple issuers in the same state or backed by revenues of similar types of projects or industries may make the fund more susceptible to certain economic, political or regulatory occurrences. As a result, the fund has greater risk of volatility, and greater risk of loss, from these investments.

Management — The investment adviser to the fund actively manages the fund’s investments. Consequently, the fund is subject to the risk that the methods and analyses, including models, tools and data, employed by the investment adviser in this process may be flawed or incorrect and may not produce the desired results. This could cause the fund to lose value or its investment results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.

Your investment in the fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency, entity or person. You should consider how this fund fits into your overall investment program.

American High-Income Municipal Bond Fund / Summary prospectus     4


 
 

 

Investment results The following bar chart shows how the fund’s investment results have varied from year to year, and the following table shows how the fund’s average annual total returns for various periods compare with a broad measure of securities market results and other applicable measures of market results. This information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the fund. The Bloomberg High Yield Municipal Bond Index is a market-value-weighted index composed of municipal bonds rated below BBB/Baa. The Lipper High Yield Municipal Debt Funds Average includes the fund and other funds that disclose investment objectives and/or strategies reasonably comparable to those of the fund. Past investment results (before and after taxes) are not predictive of future investment results. Updated information on the fund’s investment results can be obtained by visiting capitalgroup.com.

           
Average annual total returns For the periods ended December 31, 2021:
Share class Inception date 1 year 5 years 10 years Lifetime
F-2 − Before taxes 8/12/2008 5.75% 5.96% 6.03% 5.75%
− After taxes on distributions   5.51 5.90 6.00 N/A
− After taxes on distributions and sale of fund shares 4.72 5.46 5.66 N/A
           
Share classes (before taxes) Inception date 1 year 5 years 10 years Lifetime
A (with maximum sales charge) 9/26/1994 1.52% 4.92% 5.42% 5.39%
C 3/15/2001 3.76 4.98 5.19 4.70
F-1 3/19/2001 5.47 5.69 5.76 4.94
F-3 1/27/2017 5.86 N/A N/A 6.07
         
Indexes 1 year 5 years 10 years Lifetime
(from Class F-2 inception)
Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index (reflects no deductions for sales charges, account fees, expenses or U.S. federal income taxes) 1.52% 4.17% 3.72% 4.41%
Bloomberg High Yield Municipal Bond Index (reflects no deductions for sales charges, account fees, expenses or U.S. federal income taxes) 7.77 7.53 6.72 6.26
Lipper High Yield Municipal Debt Funds Average (reflects no deductions for sales charges, account fees or U.S. federal income taxes) 5.53 5.56 5.44 5.07
Class F-2 annualized 30-day yield at July 31, 2022: 3.49%
(For current yield information, please call American Funds Service Company at (800) 421-4225 or visit capitalgroup.com.)

After-tax returns are shown only for Class F-2 shares; after-tax returns for other share classes will vary. After-tax returns are calculated using the highest individual federal income tax rates in effect during each year of the periods shown and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Your actual after-tax returns depend on your individual tax situation and likely will differ from the results shown above.

5     American High-Income Municipal Bond Fund / Summary prospectus


 
 

 

Management

Investment adviser Capital Research and Management CompanySM
Portfolio managers The individuals primarily responsible for the portfolio management of the fund are:

     
Portfolio manager/
Fund title (if applicable)
Portfolio
manager
experience
in this fund
Primary title
with investment adviser
Chad M. Rach President 11 years Partner – Capital Fixed Income Investors
Jerome Solomon Senior Vice President 5 years Partner – Capital Fixed Income Investors
Courtney K. Wolf Senior Vice President 1 year Partner – Capital Fixed Income Investors

American High-Income Municipal Bond Fund / Summary prospectus     6


 
 

 

Purchase and sale of fund shares The minimum amount to establish an account for all share classes is $250 and the minimum to add to an account is $50. For accounts with Class F-3 shares held and serviced by the fund’s transfer agent, the minimum investment amount is $1 million.

If you are a retail investor, you may sell (redeem) shares on any business day through your dealer or financial professional or by writing to American Funds Service Company® at P.O. Box 6007, Indianapolis, Indiana 46206-6007; telephoning American Funds Service Company at (800) 421-4225; faxing American Funds Service Company at (888) 421-4351; or accessing our website at capitalgroup.com.

Tax information Fund dividends of interest earned from municipal bonds are generally not subject to federal income tax. However, the fund may distribute taxable dividends, including distributions of short-term capital gains, which are subject to federal taxation as ordinary income. To the extent the fund is permitted to invest in bonds subject to federal alternative minimum tax, interest on certain bonds may be subject to federal alternative minimum tax. The fund’s distributions of net long-term capital gains are taxable as long-term capital gains for federal income tax purposes.

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediaries If you purchase shares of the fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the fund and the fund’s distributor or its affiliates may pay the intermediary for the sale of fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your individual financial professional to recommend the fund over another investment. Ask your individual financial professional or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

   
You can access the fund’s statutory prospectus or SAI at capitalgroup.com/prospectus.
 
MFGEIPX-040-1022P
Litho in USA CGD/ALD/8020
Investment Company File No. 811-08576