485BPOS
2012-10-31
0001547011
2013-01-01
AMERICAN FUNDS COLLEGE TARGET DATE SERIES
false
2012-12-31
2013-01-01
<tt>The fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and <br />sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover <br />rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected <br />in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund's investment<br />results.</tt>
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<tt>The fund's investment objective is to provide current income, consistent with<br />preservation of capital.</tt>
<tt>This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in<br />the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.<br /> <br />The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods<br />indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The<br />example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that <br />the fund's operating expenses remain the same.</tt>
<tt>The fund will attempt to achieve its investment objective by investing in a mix<br />of American Funds bond funds. The fund will principally invest in funds that<br />seek current income through bond investments.<br /> <br />When determining in which bond funds to invest, the investment adviser will<br />predominately seek exposure to higher quality bonds (rated A- or better or A3 <br />or better by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations designated by<br />the fund's investment adviser, or unrated but determined by the fund's investment <br />adviser to be of equivalent quality) with intermediate to short-term durations. <br />The fund may, however, invest in underlying funds with exposure to lower quality, <br />higher yielding securities rated BBB+ or below and Baa1 or below (including those <br />rated BB+ or below and Ba1 or below) or unrated but determined by the fund's <br />investment adviser to be of equivalent quality, and to bonds with longer durations.<br /> <br />The underlying funds may hold securities issued and guaranteed by the U.S.<br />government, securities issued by federal agencies and instrumentalities and<br />securities backed by mortgages or other assets. The investment adviser anticipates <br />that exposure to mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities may help <br />the fund generate current income. The underlying funds may also invest in the debt <br />securities of governments, agencies, corporations and other entities domiciled <br />outside the United States.<br /> <br />The fund's investment adviser seeks to create a combination of underlying <br />funds that complement each other with a goal of achieving the fund's investment<br />objective of providing current income, consistent with preservation of capital.<br />In making this determination, the fund's investment adviser considers the<br />historical volatility and returns of the underlying funds and how various<br />combinations would have behaved in past market environments. Consideration is<br />also given to, among other topics, current market conditions and the investment<br />positions of the underlying funds.</tt>
American Funds College Enrollment FundSM
You may qualify for a Class 529-A sales charge discount if you and your family
invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000 in American Funds.
Example
Because the fund began investment operations on September 14, 2012, information
regarding investment results is not available as of the date of this prospectus.
Investment objective
You may lose money by investing in the fund.
Principal risks
Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Investment results
25000
Annual fund operating expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Portfolio turnover
<tt>This section describes the principal risks associated with the fund's principal<br />investment strategies. You may lose money by investing in the fund. The<br />likelihood of loss may be greater if you invest for a shorter period of time.<br />Investors in the fund should have a long-term perspective and be able to<br />tolerate potentially sharp declines in value.<br /> <br />Allocation risk - Investments in the fund are subject to risks related to the<br />investment adviser's allocation choices. The selection of the underlying funds<br />and the allocation of the fund's assets could cause the fund to lose value or<br />its results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.<br /> <br />Fund structure - The fund invests in underlying funds and incurs expenses<br />related to the underlying funds. In addition, investors in the fund will incur<br />fees to pay for certain expenses related to the operations of the fund. An<br />investor holding the underlying funds directly and in the same proportions as<br />the fund would incur lower overall expenses but would not receive the benefit <br />of the portfolio management and other services provided by the fund.<br /> <br />Because the fund's investments consist of underlying funds, the fund's risks are<br />directly related to the risks of the underlying funds. For this reason, it is<br />important to understand the risks associated with investing in the underlying<br />funds.<br /> <br />Market conditions - The prices of, and the income generated by, the common<br />stocks, bonds and other securities held by the underlying funds may decline due<br />to market conditions and other factors, including those directly involving the<br />issuers of securities held by the underlying funds.<br /> <br />Investing in bonds - Rising interest rates will generally cause the prices of<br />bonds and other debt securities to fall. Longer maturity debt securities may be<br />subject to greater price fluctuations than shorter maturity debt securities. In<br />addition, falling interest rates may cause an issuer to redeem, call or refinance <br />a security before its stated maturity, which may result in the underlying fund <br />having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities.<br /> <br />Bonds and other debt securities are subject to credit risk, which is the<br />possibility that the credit strength of an issuer will weaken and/or an issuer<br />of a debt security will fail to make timely payments of principal or interest<br />and the security will go into default. Credit risk is gauged, in part, by the<br />credit ratings of the securities in which the underlying fund invests. However,<br />ratings are only the opinions of the rating agencies issuing them and are not<br />guarantees as to credit quality or an evaluation of market risk.<br /> <br />Investing in lower rated bonds - Lower rated bonds and other lower rated debt<br />securities generally have higher rates of interest and involve greater risk of<br />default or price declines due to changes in the issuer's creditworthiness than<br />those of higher quality debt securities. The market prices of these securities<br />may fluctuate more than the prices of higher quality debt securities and may<br />decline significantly in periods of general economic difficulty. These risks may<br />be increased with respect to investments in bonds rated Ba1 or BB+ or below by<br />Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations or unrated but determined<br />by the underlying fund's investment adviser to be of equivalent quality. Such<br />securities are considered speculative and are sometimes referred to as "junk<br />bonds." The value of the underlying funds may be similarly affected.<br /> <br />Investing outside the United States - Securities of issuers domiciled outside<br />the United States, or with significant operations outside the United States, <br />may lose value because of adverse political, social, economic or market <br />developments in the countries or regions in which the issuer operates. These <br />securities may also lose value due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates <br />against the U.S. dollar and/or currencies of other countries. Securities markets <br />in certain countries may be more volatile and/or less liquid than those in the <br />United States. Investments outside the United States may also be subject to <br />different settlement and accounting practices and different regulatory, legal <br />and reporting standards, and may be more difficult to value, than those in the<br />United States. The risks of investing outside the United States may be<br />heightened in connection with investments in emerging markets.<br /> <br />Investing in mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities - Many types of bonds<br />and other debt securities, including mortgage-backed/related securities, are<br />subject to prepayment risk as well as the risks associated with investing in<br />debt securities in general. If interest rates fall and the loans underlying<br />these securities are prepaid faster than expected, the underlying fund may have<br />to reinvest the prepaid principal in lower yielding securities, thus reducing<br />the fund's income. Conversely, if interest rates increase and the loans<br />underlying the securities are prepaid more slowly than expected, the expected<br />duration of the securities may be extended, reducing the cash flow for potential<br />reinvestment in higher yielding securities.<br /> <br />Investing in U.S. government securities - Securities backed by the U.S. Treasury<br />or the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are guaranteed only as to<br />the timely payment of interest and principal when held to maturity. Accordingly,<br />the current market values for these securities will fluctuate with changes in<br />interest rates. Securities issued by government-sponsored entities and federal<br />agencies and instrumentalities that are not backed by the full faith and credit<br />of the U.S. government are neither issued nor guaranteed by the U.S. government.<br /> <br />Investing in future delivery contracts - Contracts for future delivery of<br />mortgage-related securities, such as to be announced contracts and mortgage<br />dollar rolls, involve the fund selling mortgage-related securities and<br />simultaneously contracting to repurchase similar securities for delivery at a<br />future date at a predetermined price. This can increase the underlying fund's<br />market exposure, and the market price of the securities the fund contracts to<br />repurchase could drop below their purchase price. While the fund can preserve<br />and generate capital through the use of such contracts by, for example,<br />realizing the difference between the sale price and the future purchase price,<br />the income generated by the fund may be reduced by engaging in such transactions. <br />In addition, these transactions may increase the turnover rate of the fund.<br /> <br />Management - The investment adviser to the fund and to the underlying funds<br />actively manages each underlying fund's investments. Consequently, the underlying <br />funds are subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed by the <br />investment adviser in this process may not produce the desired results. This could <br />cause an underlying fund to lose value or its investment results to lag relevant <br />benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.<br /> <br />Your investment in the fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed <br />by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency, <br />entity or person. You should consider how this fund fits into your overall investment <br />program.</tt>
Fees and expenses of the fund
Principal investment strategies
<tt>Because the fund began investment operations on September 14, 2012, information<br />regarding investment results is not available as of the date of this prospectus.</tt>
<tt>This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold<br />shares of the fund. You may qualify for a Class 529-A sales charge discount if<br />you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000<br />in American Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available<br />from your financial professional and in the "Sales charge reductions and<br />waivers" section on page 51 of the prospectus and on page 65 of the fund's<br />statement of additional information.</tt>
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For the share classes listed below, you would pay the following if you did not redeem your shares:
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.
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CENFX
0
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290
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1126
508
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2013-12-31
0.00
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10
0.0033
0.0000
CENEX
0
0.0000
133
428
-0.0017
1632
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0.0035
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2013-12-31
0.00
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10
0.0033
0.0000
CENCX
0
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287
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592
-0.0017
2211
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0.0010
2013-12-31
2211
592
1021
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0.0033
0.0100
CENBX
0
0.0000
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0.0044
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2013-12-31
2064
610
1052
0.00
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0.0187
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0.0033
0.0500
CENAX
0
0.0250
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-0.0017
1600
862
0.0038
0.0010
2013-12-31
0.00
0.0025
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10
0.0033
0.0100
<tt>The fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and <br />sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover <br />rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected <br />in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund's investment<br />results.</tt>
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/ExpenseExample_S000037539Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
<tt>The fund will seek to achieve the following objectives to varying degrees:<br />growth, income and preservation of capital, depending on the proximity to its<br />target date. The target date is meant to roughly correspond to the year in which<br />the fund beneficiary will start to withdraw funds to meet higher education<br />expenses. The fund will increasingly emphasize income and preservation of<br />capital by investing a greater portion of its assets in bond, equity-income and<br />balanced funds as it approaches and passes its target date. In this way, the<br />fund seeks to achieve an appropriate balance of total return and stability<br />during different time periods.</tt>
<tt>This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund <br />with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.<br /> <br />The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods<br />indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The<br />example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that <br />the fund's operating expenses remain the same.</tt>
<tt>The fund will attempt to achieve its investment objectives by investing in a <br />mix of American Funds in different combinations and weightings. The underlying<br />American Funds represent a variety of fund categories such as equity-income<br />funds, balanced funds and bond funds. The fund categories represent differing<br />investment objectives. For example, equity-income and balanced funds generally<br />strive for income and growth through stocks and/or bond investments, while bond<br />funds seek current income through bond investments.<br /> <br />The investment adviser may periodically rebalance or modify the asset mix of <br />the funds and change the underlying fund investments. According to its current<br />investment approach, the percentage of the fund invested in different categories<br />will change until the fund reaches its target date. Upon reaching its target<br />date, the fund will be principally invested in fixed-income funds and may merge<br />into the Enrollment Fund, which will also be principally invested in<br />fixed-income funds.<br /> <br />The fund's investment adviser periodically reviews the investment strategies and<br />asset mix of the underlying funds. The investment adviser will also consider<br />whether overall market conditions would favor a change in the exposure of the<br />fund to various asset types or geographic regions. Based on these considerations, <br />the investment adviser may make adjustments to underlying fund holdings by <br />adjusting the percentage of individual underlying funds within the fund, or <br />adding or removing underlying funds. The investment adviser may also determine <br />not to change the underlying fund allocations, particularly in response to <br />short-term market movements, if in its opinion the combination of underlying <br />funds is appropriate to meet the fund's investment objective.<br /> <br />With respect to its fixed-income investments, the underlying funds in which the<br />fund invests may hold debt securities with a wide range of quality and maturities. <br />The fund may invest in underlying funds with significant exposure to bonds rated <br />BB+ or below and Ba1 or below by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating <br />Organizations designated by the fund's investment adviser, or unrated but <br />determined by the fund's investment adviser to be of equivalent quality.<br />Securities rated BB+ or below and Ba1 or below are sometimes referred to as<br />"junk bonds." Exposure to lower rated securities may help the fund achieve its<br />objective of providing current income.<br /> <br />The underlying funds may hold securities issued and guaranteed by the U.S.<br />government, securities issued by federal agencies and instrumentalities and<br />securities backed by mortgages or other assets. The underlying funds may also<br />invest in the debt securities of governments, agencies, corporations and other<br />entities domiciled outside the United States.<br /><br />The following chart illustrates the current investment approach of the fund by<br />showing how its investment in the various fund categories will change over time.<br /> <br />                                             Current investment approach <br /><br />                                     2030     2027     2024     2021    2018     2015     Enrollment<br /><br />Growth funds                          20%      15%      10%       0%      0%       0%          0%                             <br />Growth-and-income funds               70%      55%      45%      40%     20%       0%          0%<br />Equity-income and balanced funds       0%      10%      10%      15%     20%      10%          0%<br />Bond funds                            10%      20%      35%      45%     60%      90%        100%<br /><br />Years to distribution               15-18    12-15     9-12      6-9     3-6      0-3     target date<br /><br /><br />The investment adviser anticipates that the fund will invest its assets within a<br />range that deviates no more than 10% above or below the investment approach set<br />forth above. For example, a 20% target allocation to growth funds is not expected <br />to be greater than 30% or less than 10%. The investment adviser will continuously <br />monitor the fund and may make modifications to either the investment approach or <br />the underlying fund allocations that the investment adviser believes could benefit <br />shareholders.</tt>
American Funds College 2015 FundSM
You may qualify for a Class 529-A sales charge discount if you and your family
invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000 in American Funds.
Example
Because the fund began investment operations on September 14, 2012, information
regarding investment results is not available as of the date of this prospectus.
Investment objectives
You may lose money by investing in the fund.
Principal risks
Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Investment results
25000
Annual fund operating expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Portfolio turnover
<tt>This section describes the principal risks associated with the fund's principal<br />investment strategies. You may lose money by investing in the fund. The<br />likelihood of loss may be greater if you invest for a shorter period of time.<br />Investors in the fund should have a long-term perspective and be able to<br />tolerate potentially sharp declines in value.<br /> <br />Allocation risk - Investments in the fund are subject to risks related to the<br />investment adviser's allocation choices. The selection of the underlying funds<br />and the allocation of the fund's assets could cause the fund to lose value or<br />its results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.<br /> <br />Fund structure - The fund invests in underlying funds and incurs expenses<br />related to the underlying funds. In addition, investors in the fund will incur<br />fees to pay for certain expenses related to the operations of the fund. An<br />investor holding the underlying funds directly and in the same proportions as<br />the fund would incur lower overall expenses but would not receive the benefit <br />of the portfolio management and other services provided by the fund.<br /> <br />Because the fund's investments consist of underlying funds, the fund's risks are<br />directly related to the risks of the underlying funds. For this reason, it is<br />important to understand the risks associated with investing in the underlying<br />funds.<br /> <br />Market conditions - The prices of, and the income generated by, the common<br />stocks, bonds and other securities held by the underlying funds may decline <br />due to market conditions and other factors, including those directly involving <br />the issuers of securities held by the underlying funds.<br /> <br />Investing in stocks - Investing in stocks may involve larger price swings and<br />greater potential for loss than other types of investments. As a result, the<br />value of the underlying funds may be subject to sharp, short-term declines in<br />value. Income provided by an underlying fund may be reduced by changes in the<br />dividend policies of, and the capital resources available at, the companies in<br />which the underlying fund invests.<br /> <br />Investing in income-oriented stocks - Income provided by an underlying fund may<br />be reduced by changes in the dividend policies of, and the capital resources<br />available at, the companies in which the underlying fund invests.<br /> <br />Investing in bonds - Rising interest rates will generally cause the prices of<br />bonds and other debt securities to fall. Longer maturity debt securities may <br />be subject to greater price fluctuations than shorter maturity debt securities. <br />In addition, falling interest rates may cause an issuer to redeem, call or<br />refinance a security before its stated maturity, which may result in the<br />underlying fund having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities.<br /> <br />Bonds and other debt securities are subject to credit risk, which is the<br />possibility that the credit strength of an issuer will weaken and/or an issuer<br />of a debt security will fail to make timely payments of principal or interest<br />and the security will go into default. Credit risk is gauged, in part, by the<br />credit ratings of the securities in which the underlying fund invests. However,<br />ratings are only the opinions of the rating agencies issuing them and are not<br />guarantees as to credit quality or an evaluation of market risk.<br />   <br />Investing in lower rated bonds - Lower rated bonds and other lower rated debt<br />securities generally have higher rates of interest and involve greater risk of<br />default or price declines due to changes in the issuer's creditworthiness than<br />those of higher quality debt securities. The market prices of these securities<br />may fluctuate more than the prices of higher quality debt securities and may<br />decline significantly in periods of general economic difficulty. These risks may<br />be increased with respect to investments in bonds rated Ba1 or BB+ or below by<br />Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations or unrated but determined<br />by the underlying fund's investment adviser to be of equivalent quality. Such<br />securities are considered speculative and are sometimes referred to as "junk<br />bonds." The value of the underlying funds may be similarly affected.<br /> <br />Investing outside the United States - Securities of issuers domiciled outside<br />the United States, or with significant operations outside the United States, <br />may lose value because of adverse political, social, economic or market <br />developments in the countries or regions in which the issuer operates. These <br />securities may also lose value due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates <br />against the U.S. dollar and/or currencies of other countries. Securities markets <br />in certain countries may be more volatile and/or less liquid than those in the <br />United States. Investments outside the United States may also be subject to <br />different settlement and accounting practices and different regulatory, legal <br />and reporting standards, and may be more difficult to value, than those in the<br />United States. The risks of investing outside the United States may be<br />heightened in connection with investments in emerging markets.<br /> <br />Investing in emerging markets - Investing in emerging markets may involve risks<br />in addition to and greater than those generally associated with investing in<br />developed countries. For instance, developing countries may have less developed<br />legal and accounting systems than those in developed countries. The governments<br />of these countries may be less stable and more likely to impose capital controls, <br />nationalize a company or industry, place restrictions on foreign ownership and <br />on withdrawing sale proceeds of securities from the country, and/or impose punitive <br />taxes that could adversely affect the prices of securities. In addition, the <br />economies of these countries may be dependent on relatively few industries that <br />are more susceptible to local and global changes. Securities markets in these <br />countries can also be relatively small and have substantially lower trading <br />volumes. As a result, securities issued in these countries may be more volatile <br />and less liquid, and may be more difficult to value, than securities issued in <br />countries with more developed economies and/or markets. Additionally, there may <br />be increased settlement risks for transactions in local securities.<br /> <br />Investing in mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities - Many types of bonds<br />and other debt securities, including mortgage-backed/related securities, are<br />subject to prepayment risk as well as the risks associated with investing in<br />debt securities in general. If interest rates fall and the loans underlying<br />these securities are prepaid faster than expected, the underlying fund may have<br />to reinvest the prepaid principal in lower yielding securities, thus reducing<br />the fund's income. Conversely, if interest rates increase and the loans<br />underlying the securities are prepaid more slowly than expected, the expected<br />duration of the securities may be extended, reducing the cash flow for potential<br />reinvestment in higher yielding securities.<br /> <br />Investing in U.S. government securities - Securities backed by the U.S. Treasury<br />or the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are guaranteed only as to<br />the timely payment of interest and principal when held to maturity. Accordingly,<br />the current market values for these securities will fluctuate with changes in<br />interest rates. Securities issued by government-sponsored entities and federal<br />agencies and instrumentalities that are not backed by the full faith and credit<br />of the U.S. government are neither issued nor guaranteed by the U.S. government.<br /> <br />Investing in future delivery contracts - Contracts for future delivery of<br />mortgage-related securities, such as to be announced contracts and mortgage<br />dollar rolls, involve the fund selling mortgage-related securities and<br />simultaneously contracting to repurchase similar securities for delivery at a<br />future date at a predetermined price. This can increase the underlying fund's<br />market exposure, and the market price of the securities the fund contracts to<br />repurchase could drop below their purchase price. While the fund can preserve<br />and generate capital through the use of such contracts by, for example,<br />realizing the difference between the sale price and the future purchase price,<br />the income generated by the fund may be reduced by engaging in such transactions. <br />In addition, these transactions may increase the turnover rate of the fund.<br /> <br />Management - The investment adviser to the fund and to the underlying funds<br />actively manages each underlying fund's investments. Consequently, the<br />underlying funds are subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed<br />by the investment adviser in this process may not produce the desired results.<br />This could cause an underlying fund to lose value or its investment results to<br />lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.<br /> <br />Your investment in the fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured <br />or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other<br />governmental agency, entity or person. You should consider how this fund <br />fits into your overall investment program.</tt>
Fees and expenses of the fund
Principal investment strategies
<tt>Because the fund began investment operations on September 14, 2012, information<br />regarding investment results is not available as of the date of this prospectus.</tt>
<tt>This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold<br />shares of the fund. You may qualify for a Class 529-A sales charge discount if<br />you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000<br />in American Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available<br />from your financial professional and in the "Sales charge reductions and<br />waivers" section on page 51 of the prospectus and on page 65 of the fund's<br />statement of additional information.</tt>
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/OperatingExpensesData_S000037539Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
For the share classes listed below, you would pay the following if you did not redeem your shares:
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.
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/ExpenseExampleNoRedemption_S000037539Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/ShareholderFeesData_S000037539Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
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0.0030
0.0100
<tt>The fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and <br />sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover <br />rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected <br />in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund's investment<br />results.</tt>
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/ExpenseExample_S000037538Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
<tt>The fund will seek to achieve the following objectives to varying degrees:<br />growth, income and preservation of capital, depending on the proximity to <br />its target date. The target date is meant to roughly correspond to the year <br />in which the fund beneficiary will start to withdraw funds to meet higher <br />education expenses. The fund will increasingly emphasize income and preservation <br />of capital by investing a greater portion of its assets in bond, equity-income <br />and balanced funds as it approaches and passes its target date. In this way, <br />the fund seeks to achieve an appropriate balance of total return and stability<br />during different time periods.</tt>
<tt>This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund <br />with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.<br /> <br />The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods<br />indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The<br />example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that <br />the fund's operating expenses remain the same.</tt>
<tt>The fund will attempt to achieve its investment objectives by investing in a <br />mix of American Funds in different combinations and weightings. The underlying<br />American Funds represent a variety of fund categories such as growth-and-income<br />funds, equity-income funds, balanced funds and bond funds. The fund categories<br />represent differing investment objectives. For example, growth-and-income funds<br />seek long-term growth-and-income primarily through investments in stocks.<br />Equity-income and balanced funds generally strive for income and growth through<br />stocks and/or bond investments, while bond funds seek current income through<br />bond investments.<br /> <br />The investment adviser may periodically rebalance or modify the asset mix of <br />the funds and change the underlying fund investments. According to its current<br />investment approach, the percentage of the fund invested in different categories<br />will change until the fund reaches its target date. Upon reaching its target<br />date, the fund will be principally invested in fixed-income funds and may merge<br />into the Enrollment Fund, which will also be principally invested in fixed-income <br />funds.<br /> <br />The fund's investment adviser periodically reviews the investment strategies <br />and asset mix of the underlying funds. The investment adviser will also consider<br />whether overall market conditions would favor a change in the exposure of the<br />fund to various asset types or geographic regions. Based on these considerations, <br />the investment adviser may make adjustments to underlying fund holdings by <br />adjusting the percentage of individual underlying funds within the fund, or <br />adding or removing underlying funds. The investment adviser may also determine <br />not to change the underlying fund allocations, particularly in response to <br />short-term market movements, if in its opinion the combination of underlying <br />funds is appropriate to meet the fund's investment objective.<br /> <br />With respect to its fixed-income investments, the underlying funds in which the<br />fund invests may hold debt securities with a wide range of quality and maturities. <br />The fund may invest in underlying funds with significant exposure to bonds rated <br />BB+ or below and Ba1 or below by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating <br />Organizations designated by the fund's investment adviser, or unrated but<br />determined by the fund's investment adviser to be of equivalent quality.<br />Securities rated BB+ or below and Ba1 or below are sometimes referred to as<br />"junk bonds." Exposure to lower rated securities may help the fund achieve <br />its objective of providing current income.<br /> <br />The underlying funds may hold securities issued and guaranteed by the U.S.<br />government, securities issued by federal agencies and instrumentalities and<br />securities backed by mortgages or other assets. The underlying funds may <br />also invest in the debt securities of governments, agencies, corporations <br />and other entities domiciled outside the United States.<br />  <br />The following chart illustrates the current investment approach of the fund by<br />showing how its investment in the various fund categories will change over time.<br /> <br />                                            Current investment approach <br /><br />                                     2030     2027     2024     2021    2018     2015     Enrollment<br /><br />Growth funds                          20%      15%      10%       0%      0%       0%          0%                             <br />Growth-and-income funds               70%      55%      45%      40%     20%       0%          0%<br />Equity-income and balanced funds       0%      10%      10%      15%     20%      10%          0%<br />Bond funds                            10%      20%      35%      45%     60%      90%        100%<br /><br />Years to distribution               15-18    12-15     9-12      6-9     3-6      0-3     target date<br /><br /><br />The investment adviser anticipates that the fund will invest its assets within <br />a range that deviates no more than 10% above or below the investment approach<br />set forth above. For example, a 20% target allocation to growth funds is not<br />expected to be greater than 30% or less than 10%. The investment adviser will<br />continuously monitor the fund and may make modifications to either the<br />investment approach or the underlying fund allocations that the investment<br />adviser believes could benefit shareholders.</tt>
American Funds College 2018 FundSM
You may qualify for a Class 529-A sales charge discount if you and your
family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000 in
American Funds.
Example
Because the fund began investment operations on September 14, 2012, information
regarding investment results is not available as of the date of this prospectus.
Investment objectives
You may lose money by investing in the fund.
Principal risks
Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Investment results
25000
Annual fund operating expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Portfolio turnover
<tt>This section describes the principal risks associated with the fund's principal<br />investment strategies. You may lose money by investing in the fund. The<br />likelihood of loss may be greater if you invest for a shorter period of time.<br />Investors in the fund should have a long-term perspective and be able to<br />tolerate potentially sharp declines in value.<br /> <br />Allocation risk - Investments in the fund are subject to risks related to the<br />investment adviser's allocation choices. The selection of the underlying funds<br />and the allocation of the fund's assets could cause the fund to lose value or<br />its results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.<br /> <br />Fund structure - The fund invests in underlying funds and incurs expenses<br />related to the underlying funds. In addition, investors in the fund will incur<br />fees to pay for certain expenses related to the operations of the fund. An<br />investor holding the underlying funds directly and in the same proportions as<br />the fund would incur lower overall expenses but would not receive the benefit <br />of the portfolio management and other services provided by the fund.<br /> <br />Because the fund's investments consist of underlying funds, the fund's risks are<br />directly related to the risks of the underlying funds. For this reason, it is<br />important to understand the risks associated with investing in the underlying<br />funds.<br /> <br />Market conditions - The prices of, and the income generated by, the common<br />stocks, bonds and other securities held by the underlying funds may decline <br />due to market conditions and other factors, including those directly involving <br />the issuers of securities held by the underlying funds.<br /> <br />Investing in stocks - Investing in stocks may involve larger price swings and<br />greater potential for loss than other types of investments. As a result, the<br />value of the underlying funds may be subject to sharp, short-term declines in<br />value. Income provided by an underlying fund may be reduced by changes in the<br />dividend policies of, and the capital resources available at, the companies in<br />which the underlying fund invests.<br /> <br />Investing in growth-oriented stocks - Growth-oriented stocks may involve larger<br />price swings and greater potential for loss than other types of investments.<br /> <br />Investing in income-oriented stocks - Income provided by an underlying fund may<br />be reduced by changes in the dividend policies of, and the capital resources<br />available at, the companies in which the underlying fund invests.<br /> <br />Investing in bonds - Rising interest rates will generally cause the prices of<br />bonds and other debt securities to fall. Longer maturity debt securities may be<br />subject to greater price fluctuations than shorter maturity debt securities. In<br />addition, falling interest rates may cause an issuer to redeem, call or<br />refinance a security before its stated maturity, which may result in the<br />underlying fund having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities.<br /> <br />Bonds and other debt securities are subject to credit risk, which is the<br />possibility that the credit strength of an issuer will weaken and/or an issuer<br />of a debt security will fail to make timely payments of principal or interest<br />and the security will go into default. Credit risk is gauged, in part, by the<br />credit ratings of the securities in which the underlying fund invests. However,<br />ratings are only the opinions of the rating agencies issuing them and are not<br />guarantees as to credit quality or an evaluation of market risk.<br />  <br />Investing in lower rated bonds - Lower rated bonds and other lower rated debt<br />securities generally have higher rates of interest and involve greater risk of<br />default or price declines due to changes in the issuer's creditworthiness than<br />those of higher quality debt securities. The market prices of these securities<br />may fluctuate more than the prices of higher quality debt securities and may<br />decline significantly in periods of general economic difficulty. These risks may<br />be increased with respect to investments in bonds rated Ba1 or BB+ or below by<br />Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations or unrated but determined<br />by the underlying fund's investment adviser to be of equivalent quality. Such<br />securities are considered speculative and are sometimes referred to as "junk<br />bonds." The value of the underlying funds may be similarly affected.<br /> <br />Investing in small companies - Investing in smaller companies may pose<br />additional risks. For example, it is often more difficult to value or dispose <br />of small company stocks and more difficult to obtain information about smaller<br />companies than about larger companies. In addition, the prices of these stocks<br />may be more volatile than stocks of larger, more established companies.<br /> <br />Investing outside the United States - Securities of issuers domiciled outside<br />the United States, or with significant operations outside the United States, may<br />lose value because of adverse political, social, economic or market developments<br />in the countries or regions in which the issuer operates. These securities may<br />also lose value due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates against the<br />U.S. dollar and/or currencies of other countries. Securities markets in certain<br />countries may be more volatile and/or less liquid than those in the United<br />States. Investments outside the United States may also be subject to different<br />settlement and accounting practices and different regulatory, legal and<br />reporting standards, and may be more difficult to value, than those in the<br />United States. The risks of investing outside the United States may be<br />heightened in connection with investments in emerging markets.<br /> <br />Investing in emerging markets - Investing in emerging markets may involve risks<br />in addition to and greater than those generally associated with investing in<br />developed countries. For instance, developing countries may have less developed<br />legal and accounting systems than those in developed countries. The governments<br />of these countries may be less stable and more likely to impose capital controls, <br />nationalize a company or industry, place restrictions on foreign ownership and <br />on withdrawing sale proceeds of securities from the country, and/or impose <br />punitive taxes that could adversely affect the prices of securities. In addition, <br />the economies of these countries may be dependent on relatively few industries <br />that are more susceptible to local and global changes. Securities markets in <br />these countries can also be relatively small and have substantially lower trading <br />volumes. As a result, securities issued in these countries may be more volatile <br />and less liquid, and may be more difficult to value, than securities issued in <br />countries with more developed economies and/or markets. Additionally, there may <br />be increased settlement risks for transactions in local securities.<br /> <br />Investing in mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities - Many types of bonds<br />and other debt securities, including mortgage-backed/related securities, are<br />subject to prepayment risk as well as the risks associated with investing in<br />debt securities in general. If interest rates fall and the loans underlying<br />these securities are prepaid faster than expected, the underlying fund may have<br />to reinvest the prepaid principal in lower yielding securities, thus reducing<br />the fund's income. Conversely, if interest rates increase and the loans<br />underlying the securities are prepaid more slowly than expected, the expected<br />duration of the securities may be extended, reducing the cash flow for potential<br />reinvestment in higher yielding securities.<br /> <br />Investing in U.S. government securities - Securities backed by the U.S. Treasury<br />or the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are guaranteed only as to<br />the timely payment of interest and principal when held to maturity. Accordingly,<br />the current market values for these securities will fluctuate with changes in<br />interest rates. Securities issued by government-sponsored entities and federal<br />agencies and instrumentalities that are not backed by the full faith and credit<br />of the U.S. government are neither issued nor guaranteed by the U.S. government.<br /> <br />Investing in future delivery contracts - Contracts for future delivery of<br />mortgage-related securities, such as to be announced contracts and mortgage<br />dollar rolls, involve the fund selling mortgage-related securities and<br />simultaneously contracting to repurchase similar securities for delivery at a<br />future date at a predetermined price. This can increase the underlying fund's<br />market exposure, and the market price of the securities the fund contracts to<br />repurchase could drop below their purchase price. While the fund can preserve<br />and generate capital through the use of such contracts by, for example, realizing <br />the difference between the sale price and the future purchase price, the income <br />generated by the fund may be reduced by engaging in such transactions. In addition, <br />these transactions may increase the turnover rate of the fund.<br /> <br />Management - The investment adviser to the fund and to the underlying funds<br />actively manages each underlying fund's investments. Consequently, the<br />underlying funds are subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed<br />by the investment adviser in this process may not produce the desired results.<br />This could cause an underlying fund to lose value or its investment results to<br />lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.<br /> <br />Your investment in the fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or<br />guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other<br />governmental agency, entity or person. You should consider how this fund <br />fits into your overall investment program.</tt>
Fees and expenses of the fund
Principal investment strategies
<tt>Because the fund began investment operations on September 14, 2012, information<br />regarding investment results is not available as of the date of this prospectus.</tt>
<tt>This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold<br />shares of the fund. You may qualify for a Class 529-A sales charge discount if<br />you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000<br />in American Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available<br />from your financial professional and in the "Sales charge reductions and<br />waivers" section on page 51 of the prospectus and on page 65 of the fund's<br />statement of additional information.</tt>
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For the share classes listed below, you would pay the following if you did not redeem your shares:
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.
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/ExpenseExampleNoRedemption_S000037538Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/ShareholderFeesData_S000037538Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
CNEFX
0
0.0000
85
266
-0.0010
1014
460
0.0034
0.0010
2013-12-31
0.00
0.0000
0.0064
0.0074
10
0.0030
0.0000
CNEEX
0
0.0000
130
404
-0.0010
1525
697
0.0028
0.0010
2013-12-31
0.00
0.0050
0.0108
0.0118
10
0.0030
0.0000
CNECX
0
0.0000
283
183
568
-0.0010
2110
976
0.0031
0.0010
2013-12-31
2110
568
976
0.00
0.0100
0.0161
0.0171
10
0.0030
0.0100
CNEBX
0
0.0000
690
190
986
-0.0010
1962
1207
0.0037
0.0010
2013-12-31
1962
586
1007
0.00
0.0100
0.0167
0.0177
10
0.0030
0.0500
CNEAX
0
0.0425
529
748
-0.0010
1648
982
0.0031
0.0010
2013-12-31
0.00
0.0025
0.0086
0.0096
10
0.0030
0.0100
<tt>The fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and <br />sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover <br />rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected <br />in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund's investment <br />results.</tt>
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/ExpenseExample_S000037537Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
<tt>The fund will seek to achieve the following objectives to varying degrees:<br />growth, income and preservation of capital, depending on the proximity to its<br />target date. The target date is meant to roughly correspond to the year in which<br />the fund beneficiary will start to withdraw funds to meet higher education<br />expenses. The fund will increasingly emphasize income and preservation of<br />capital by investing a greater portion of its assets in bond, equity-income and<br />balanced funds as it approaches and passes its target date. In this way, the<br />fund seeks to achieve an appropriate balance of total return and stability<br />during different time periods.</tt>
<tt>This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund <br />with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.<br /> <br />The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods<br />indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The<br />example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that <br />the fund's operating expenses remain the same.</tt>
<tt>The fund will attempt to achieve its investment objectives by investing in a mix<br />of American Funds in different combinations and weightings. The underlying<br />American Funds represent a variety of fund categories such as growth-and-income<br />funds, equity-income funds, balanced funds and bond funds. The fund categories<br />represent differing investment objectives. For example, growth-and-income funds<br />seek long-term growth-and-income primarily through investments in stocks.<br />Equity-income and balanced funds generally strive for income and growth through<br />stocks and/or bond investments, while bond funds seek current income through<br />bond investments.<br /> <br />The investment adviser may periodically rebalance or modify the asset mix of the<br />funds and change the underlying fund investments. According to its current<br />investment approach, the percentage of the fund invested in different categories<br />will change until the fund reaches its target date. Upon reaching its target<br />date, the fund will be principally invested in fixed-income funds and may merge<br />into the Enrollment Fund, which will also be principally invested in<br />fixed-income funds.<br /> <br />The fund's investment adviser periodically reviews the investment strategies and<br />asset mix of the underlying funds. The investment adviser will also consider<br />whether overall market conditions would favor a change in the exposure of the<br />fund to various asset types or geographic regions. Based on these considerations, <br />the investment adviser may make adjustments to underlying fund holdings by <br />adjusting the percentage of individual underlying funds within the fund, or <br />adding or removing underlying funds. The investment adviser may also determine <br />not to change the underlying fund allocations, particularly in response to <br />short-term market movements, if in its opinion the combination of underlying <br />funds is appropriate to meet the fund's investment objective.<br /> <br />With respect to its fixed-income investments, the underlying funds in which <br />the fund invests may hold debt securities with a wide range of quality and <br />maturities. The fund may invest in underlying funds with significant exposure <br />to bonds rated BB+ or below and Ba1 or below by Nationally Recognized Statistical <br />Rating Organizations designated by the fund's investment adviser, or unrated but<br />determined by the fund's investment adviser to be of equivalent quality.<br />Securities rated BB+ or below and Ba1 or below are sometimes referred to as<br />"junk bonds." Exposure to lower rated securities may help the fund achieve its<br />objective of providing current income.<br /> <br />The underlying funds may hold securities issued and guaranteed by the U.S.<br />government, securities issued by federal agencies and instrumentalities and<br />securities backed by mortgages or other assets. The underlying funds may also<br />invest in the debt securities of governments, agencies, corporations and other<br />entities domiciled outside the United States.<br />  <br />The following chart illustrates the current investment approach of the fund by<br />showing how its investment in the various fund categories will change over time.<br /> <br />                                            Current investment approach<br /><br />                                     2030     2027     2024     2021    2018     2015     Enrollment<br /><br />Growth funds                          20%      15%      10%       0%      0%       0%          0%                             <br />Growth-and-income funds               70%      55%      45%      40%     20%       0%          0%<br />Equity-income and balanced funds       0%      10%      10%      15%     20%      10%          0%<br />Bond funds                            10%      20%      35%      45%     60%      90%        100%<br /><br />Years to distribution               15-18    12-15     9-12      6-9     3-6      0-3     target date<br /><br /><br />The investment adviser anticipates that the fund will invest its assets within a<br />range that deviates no more than 10% above or below the investment approach set<br />forth above. For example, a 20% target allocation to growth funds is not expected <br />to be greater than 30% or less than 10%. The investment adviser will continuously <br />monitor the fund and may make modifications to either the investment approach or <br />the underlying fund allocations that the investment adviser believes could benefit <br />shareholders.</tt>
American Funds College 2021 FundSM
You may qualify for a Class 529-A sales charge discount if you and your family
invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000 in American Funds.
Example
Because the fund began investment operations on September 14, 2012, information
regarding investment results is not available as of the date of this prospectus.
Investment objectives
You may lose money by investing in the fund.
Principal risks
Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Investment results
25000
Annual fund operating expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Portfolio turnover
<tt>This section describes the principal risks associated with the fund's principal<br />investment strategies. You may lose money by investing in the fund. The<br />likelihood of loss may be greater if you invest for a shorter period of time.<br />Investors in the fund should have a long-term perspective and be able to<br />tolerate potentially sharp declines in value.<br /> <br />Allocation risk - Investments in the fund are subject to risks related to the<br />investment adviser's allocation choices. The selection of the underlying funds<br />and the allocation of the fund's assets could cause the fund to lose value or<br />its results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.<br /> <br />Fund structure - The fund invests in underlying funds and incurs expenses<br />related to the underlying funds. In addition, investors in the fund will incur<br />fees to pay for certain expenses related to the operations of the fund. An<br />investor holding the underlying funds directly and in the same proportions as<br />the fund would incur lower overall expenses but would not receive the benefit <br />of the portfolio management and other services provided by the fund.<br /> <br />Because the fund's investments consist of underlying funds, the fund's risks are<br />directly related to the risks of the underlying funds. For this reason, it is<br />important to understand the risks associated with investing in the underlying<br />funds.<br /> <br />Market conditions - The prices of, and the income generated by, the common<br />stocks, bonds and other securities held by the underlying funds may decline <br />due to market conditions and other factors, including those directly involving <br />the issuers of securities held by the underlying funds.<br /> <br />Investing in stocks - Investing in stocks may involve larger price swings and<br />greater potential for loss than other types of investments. As a result, the<br />value of the underlying funds may be subject to sharp, short-term declines in<br />value. Income provided by an underlying fund may be reduced by changes in the<br />dividend policies of, and the capital resources available at, the companies in<br />which the underlying fund invests.<br /> <br />Investing in growth-oriented stocks - Growth-oriented stocks may involve larger<br />price swings and greater potential for loss than other types of investments.<br /> <br />Investing in income-oriented stocks - Income provided by an underlying fund may<br />be reduced by changes in the dividend policies of, and the capital resources<br />available at, the companies in which the underlying fund invests.<br /> <br />Investing in bonds - Rising interest rates will generally cause the prices of<br />bonds and other debt securities to fall. Longer maturity debt securities may be<br />subject to greater price fluctuations than shorter maturity debt securities. <br />In addition, falling interest rates may cause an issuer to redeem, call or<br />refinance a security before its stated maturity, which may result in the<br />underlying fund having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities.<br /> <br />Bonds and other debt securities are subject to credit risk, which is the<br />possibility that the credit strength of an issuer will weaken and/or an issuer<br />of a debt security will fail to make timely payments of principal or interest<br />and the security will go into default. Credit risk is gauged, in part, by the<br />credit ratings of the securities in which the underlying fund invests. However,<br />ratings are only the opinions of the rating agencies issuing them and are not<br />guarantees as to credit quality or an evaluation of market risk.<br /> <br />Investing in lower rated bonds - Lower rated bonds and other lower rated debt<br />securities generally have higher rates of interest and involve greater risk of<br />default or price declines due to changes in the issuer's creditworthiness than<br />those of higher quality debt securities. The market prices of these securities<br />may fluctuate more than the prices of higher quality debt securities and may<br />decline significantly in periods of general economic difficulty. These risks may<br />be increased with respect to investments in bonds rated Ba1 or BB+ or below by<br />Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations or unrated but determined<br />by the underlying fund's investment adviser to be of equivalent quality. Such<br />securities are considered speculative and are sometimes referred to as "junk<br />bonds." The value of the underlying funds may be similarly affected.<br /> <br />Investing in small companies - Investing in smaller companies may pose<br />additional risks. For example, it is often more difficult to value or dispose <br />of small company stocks and more difficult to obtain information about smaller<br />companies than about larger companies. In addition, the prices of these stocks<br />may be more volatile than stocks of larger, more established companies.<br /> <br />Investing outside the United States - Securities of issuers domiciled outside<br />the United States, or with significant operations outside the United States, may<br />lose value because of adverse political, social, economic or market developments<br />in the countries or regions in which the issuer operates. These securities may<br />also lose value due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates against the<br />U.S. dollar and/or currencies of other countries. Securities markets in certain<br />countries may be more volatile and/or less liquid than those in the United<br />States. Investments outside the United States may also be subject to different<br />settlement and accounting practices and different regulatory, legal and<br />reporting standards, and may be more difficult to value, than those in the<br />United States. The risks of investing outside the United States may be<br />heightened in connection with investments in emerging markets.<br /> <br />Investing in emerging markets - Investing in emerging markets may involve risks<br />in addition to and greater than those generally associated with investing in<br />developed countries. For instance, developing countries may have less developed<br />legal and accounting systems than those in developed countries. The governments<br />of these countries may be less stable and more likely to impose capital controls, <br />nationalize a company or industry, place restrictions on foreign ownership and <br />on withdrawing sale proceeds of securities from the country, and/or impose <br />punitive taxes that could adversely affect the prices of securities. In addition, <br />the economies of these countries may be dependent on relatively few industries <br />that are more susceptible to local and global changes. Securities markets in <br />these countries can also be relatively small and have substantially lower trading <br />volumes. As a result, securities issued in these countries may be more volatile <br />and less liquid, and may be more difficult to value, than securities issued in <br />countries with more developed economies and/or markets. Additionally, there may <br />be increased settlement risks for transactions in local securities.<br /> <br />Investing in mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities - Many types of bonds<br />and other debt securities, including mortgage-backed/related securities, are<br />subject to prepayment risk as well as the risks associated with investing in<br />debt securities in general. If interest rates fall and the loans underlying<br />these securities are prepaid faster than expected, the underlying fund may have<br />to reinvest the prepaid principal in lower yielding securities, thus reducing<br />the fund's income. Conversely, if interest rates increase and the loans<br />underlying the securities are prepaid more slowly than expected, the expected<br />duration of the securities may be extended, reducing the cash flow for potential<br />reinvestment in higher yielding securities.<br /> <br />Investing in U.S. government securities - Securities backed by the U.S. Treasury<br />or the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are guaranteed only as to<br />the timely payment of interest and principal when held to maturity. Accordingly,<br />the current market values for these securities will fluctuate with changes in<br />interest rates. Securities issued by government-sponsored entities and federal<br />agencies and instrumentalities that are not backed by the full faith and credit<br />of the U.S. government are neither issued nor guaranteed by the U.S. government.<br /> <br />Investing in future delivery contracts - Contracts for future delivery of<br />mortgage-related securities, such as to be announced contracts and mortgage<br />dollar rolls, involve the fund selling mortgage-related securities and<br />simultaneously contracting to repurchase similar securities for delivery at a<br />future date at a predetermined price. This can increase the underlying fund's<br />market exposure, and the market price of the securities the fund contracts to<br />repurchase could drop below their purchase price. While the fund can preserve<br />and generate capital through the use of such contracts by, for example,<br />realizing the difference between the sale price and the future purchase price,<br />the income generated by the fund may be reduced by engaging in such transactions. <br />In addition, these transactions may increase the turnover rate of the fund.<br /> <br />Management - The investment adviser to the fund and to the underlying funds<br />actively manages each underlying fund's investments. Consequently, the underlying <br />funds are subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed by the <br />investment adviser in this process may not produce the desired results. This <br />could cause an underlying fund to lose value or its investment results to lag <br />relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.<br /> <br />Your investment in the fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed <br />by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency, <br />entity or person. You should consider how this fund fits into your overall <br />investment program.</tt>
Fees and expenses of the fund
Principal investment strategies
<tt>Because the fund began investment operations on September 14, 2012, information<br />regarding investment results is not available as of the date of this prospectus.</tt>
<tt>This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold<br />shares of the fund. You may qualify for a Class 529-A sales charge discount if<br />you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000<br />in American Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available<br />from your financial professional and in the "Sales charge reductions and<br />waivers" section on page 51 of the prospectus and on page 65 of the fund's<br />statement of additional information.</tt>
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/OperatingExpensesData_S000037537Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
For the share classes listed below, you would pay the following if you did not redeem your shares:
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.
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/ExpenseExampleNoRedemption_S000037537Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/ShareholderFeesData_S000037537Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
CTOFX
0
0.0000
92
288
-0.0010
1097
498
0.0033
0.0010
2013-12-31
0.00
0.0000
0.0071
0.0081
10
0.0038
0.0000
CTOEX
0
0.0000
137
426
-0.0010
1604
734
0.0027
0.0010
2013-12-31
0.00
0.0050
0.0115
0.0125
10
0.0038
0.0000
CTOCX
0
0.0000
291
191
589
-0.0010
2184
1012
0.0030
0.0010
2013-12-31
2184
589
1012
0.00
0.0100
0.0168
0.0178
10
0.0038
0.0100
CTOBX
0
0.0000
697
197
1008
-0.0010
2038
1243
0.0036
0.0010
2013-12-31
2038
608
1043
0.00
0.0100
0.0174
0.0184
10
0.0038
0.0500
CTOAX
0
0.0425
536
769
-0.0010
1725
1018
0.0030
0.0010
2013-12-31
0.00
0.0025
0.0093
0.0103
10
0.0038
0.0100
<tt>The fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and <br />sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover <br />rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected <br />in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund's investment<br />results.</tt>
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/ExpenseExample_S000037536Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
<tt>The fund will seek to achieve the following objectives to varying degrees:<br />growth, income and preservation of capital, depending on the proximity to its<br />target date. The target date is meant to roughly correspond to the year in which<br />the fund beneficiary will start to withdraw funds to meet higher education<br />expenses. The fund will increasingly emphasize income and preservation of<br />capital by investing a greater portion of its assets in bond, equity-income and<br />balanced funds as it approaches and passes its target date. In this way, the<br />fund seeks to achieve an appropriate balance of total return and stability<br />during different time periods.</tt>
<tt>This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund <br />with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.<br /> <br />The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods<br />indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The<br />example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that <br />the fund's operating expenses remain the same.</tt>
<tt>The fund will attempt to achieve its investment objectives by investing in a <br />mix of American Funds in different combinations and weightings. The underlying<br />American Funds represent a variety of fund categories such as growth funds,<br />growth-and-income funds, equity-income funds, balanced funds and bond funds. <br />The fund categories represent differing investment objectives. For example, <br />growth funds seek long-term growth primarily through investing in both U.S. <br />stocks and stocks of issuers domiciled outside the U.S. Growth-and-income <br />funds seek long-term growth-and-income primarily through investments in stocks.<br />Equity-income and balanced funds generally strive for income and growth through<br />stocks and/or bond investments, while bond funds seek current income through<br />bond investments.<br /> <br />The investment adviser may periodically rebalance or modify the asset mix of <br />the funds and change the underlying fund investments. According to its current<br />investment approach, the percentage of the fund invested in different categories<br />will change until the fund reaches its target date. Upon reaching its target<br />date, the fund will be principally invested in fixed-income funds and may merge<br />into the Enrollment Fund, which will also be principally invested in<br />fixed-income funds.<br /> <br />The fund's investment adviser periodically reviews the investment strategies and<br />asset mix of the underlying funds. The investment adviser will also consider<br />whether overall market conditions would favor a change in the exposure of the<br />fund to various asset types or geographic regions. Based on these considerations, <br />the investment adviser may make adjustments to underlying fund holdings by <br />adjusting the percentage of individual underlying funds within the fund, or <br />adding or removing underlying funds. The investment adviser may also determine <br />not to change the underlying fund allocations, particularly in response to <br />short-term market movements, if in its opinion the combination of underlying <br />funds is appropriate to meet the fund's investment objective.<br /> <br />With respect to its fixed-income investments, the underlying funds in which <br />the fund invests may hold debt securities with a wide range of quality and <br />maturities. The fund may invest in underlying funds with significant exposure <br />to bonds rated BB+ or below and Ba1 or below by Nationally Recognized <br />Statistical Rating Organizations designated by the fund's investment adviser, <br />or unrated but determined by the fund's investment adviser to be of equivalent <br />quality. Securities rated BB+ or below and Ba1 or below are sometimes referred <br />to as "junk bonds." Exposure to lower rated securities may help the fund achieve <br />its objective of providing current income.<br /> <br />The underlying funds may hold securities issued and guaranteed by the U.S.<br />government, securities issued by federal agencies and instrumentalities and<br />securities backed by mortgages or other assets. The underlying funds may also<br />invest in the debt securities of governments, agencies, corporations and other<br />entities domiciled outside the United States.<br />  <br />The following chart illustrates the current investment approach of the fund by<br />showing how its investment in the various fund categories will change over time.<br /> <br />                                            Current investment approach <br /><br />                                     2030     2027     2024     2021    2018     2015     Enrollment<br /><br />Growth funds                          20%      15%      10%       0%      0%       0%          0%                             <br />Growth-and-income funds               70%      55%      45%      40%     20%       0%          0%<br />Equity-income and balanced funds       0%      10%      10%      15%     20%      10%          0%<br />Bond funds                            10%      20%      35%      45%     60%      90%        100%<br /><br />Years to distribution               15-18    12-15     9-12      6-9     3-6      0-3     target date<br /><br /><br />The investment adviser anticipates that the fund will invest its assets within a<br />range that deviates no more than 10% above or below the investment approach set<br />forth above. For example, a 20% target allocation to growth funds is not<br />expected to be greater than 30% or less than 10%. The investment adviser will<br />continuously monitor the fund and may make modifications to either the<br />investment approach or the underlying fund allocations that the investment<br />adviser believes could benefit shareholders.</tt>
American Funds College 2024 FundSM
You may qualify for a Class 529-A sales charge discount if you and your family
invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000 in American Funds.
Example
Because the fund began investment operations on September 14, 2012, information
regarding investment results is not available as of the date of this prospectus.
Investment objectives
You may lose money by investing in the fund.
Principal risks
Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Investment results
25000
Annual fund operating expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Portfolio turnover
<tt>This section describes the principal risks associated with the fund's principal<br />investment strategies. You may lose money by investing in the fund. The<br />likelihood of loss may be greater if you invest for a shorter period of time.<br />Investors in the fund should have a long-term perspective and be able to<br />tolerate potentially sharp declines in value.<br /> <br />Allocation risk - Investments in the fund are subject to risks related to the<br />investment adviser's allocation choices. The selection of the underlying funds<br />and the allocation of the fund's assets could cause the fund to lose value or<br />its results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.<br /> <br />Fund structure - The fund invests in underlying funds and incurs expenses<br />related to the underlying funds. In addition, investors in the fund will incur<br />fees to pay for certain expenses related to the operations of the fund. An<br />investor holding the underlying funds directly and in the same proportions as<br />the fund would incur lower overall expenses but would not receive the benefit <br />of the portfolio management and other services provided by the fund.<br /> <br />Because the fund's investments consist of underlying funds, the fund's risks are<br />directly related to the risks of the underlying funds. For this reason, it is<br />important to understand the risks associated with investing in the underlying<br />funds.<br /> <br />Market conditions - The prices of, and the income generated by, the common<br />stocks, bonds and other securities held by the underlying funds may decline due<br />to market conditions and other factors, including those directly involving the<br />issuers of securities held by the underlying funds.<br /> <br />Investing in stocks - Investing in stocks may involve larger price swings and<br />greater potential for loss than other types of investments. As a result, the<br />value of the underlying funds may be subject to sharp, short-term declines in<br />value. Income provided by an underlying fund may be reduced by changes in the<br />dividend policies of, and the capital resources available at, the companies in<br />which the underlying fund invests.<br /> <br />Investing in growth-oriented stocks - Growth-oriented stocks may involve larger<br />price swings and greater potential for loss than other types of investments.<br /> <br />Investing in income-oriented stocks - Income provided by an underlying fund may<br />be reduced by changes in the dividend policies of, and the capital resources<br />available at, the companies in which the underlying fund invests.<br /> <br />Investing in bonds - Rising interest rates will generally cause the prices of<br />bonds and other debt securities to fall. Longer maturity debt securities may be<br />subject to greater price fluctuations than shorter maturity debt securities. In<br />addition, falling interest rates may cause an issuer to redeem, call or<br />refinance a security before its stated maturity, which may result in the<br />underlying fund having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities.<br /> <br />Bonds and other debt securities are subject to credit risk, which is the<br />possibility that the credit strength of an issuer will weaken and/or an issuer<br />of a debt security will fail to make timely payments of principal or interest<br />and the security will go into default. Credit risk is gauged, in part, by the<br />credit ratings of the securities in which the underlying fund invests. However,<br />ratings are only the opinions of the rating agencies issuing them and are not<br />guarantees as to credit quality or an evaluation of market risk.<br /> <br />Investing in lower rated bonds - Lower rated bonds and other lower rated debt<br />securities generally have higher rates of interest and involve greater risk of<br />default or price declines due to changes in the issuer's creditworthiness than<br />those of higher quality debt securities. The market prices of these securities<br />may fluctuate more than the prices of higher quality debt securities and may<br />decline significantly in periods of general economic difficulty. These risks may<br />be increased with respect to investments in bonds rated Ba1 or BB+ or below by<br />Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations or unrated but determined<br />by the underlying fund's investment adviser to be of equivalent quality. Such<br />securities are considered speculative and are sometimes referred to as "junk<br />bonds." The value of the underlying funds may be similarly affected.<br /> <br />Investing in small companies - Investing in smaller companies may pose<br />additional risks. For example, it is often more difficult to value or dispose <br />of small company stocks and more difficult to obtain information about smaller<br />companies than about larger companies. In addition, the prices of these stocks<br />may be more volatile than stocks of larger, more established companies.<br /> <br />Investing outside the United States - Securities of issuers domiciled outside<br />the United States, or with significant operations outside the United States, may<br />lose value because of adverse political, social, economic or market developments<br />in the countries or regions in which the issuer operates. These securities may<br />also lose value due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates against the<br />U.S. dollar and/or currencies of other countries. Securities markets in certain<br />countries may be more volatile and/or less liquid than those in the United<br />States. Investments outside the United States may also be subject to different<br />settlement and accounting practices and different regulatory, legal and<br />reporting standards, and may be more difficult to value, than those in the<br />United States. The risks of investing outside the United States may be<br />heightened in connection with investments in emerging markets.<br /> <br />Investing in emerging markets - Investing in emerging markets may involve risks<br />in addition to and greater than those generally associated with investing in<br />developed countries. For instance, developing countries may have less developed<br />legal and accounting systems than those in developed countries. The governments<br />of these countries may be less stable and more likely to impose capital controls, <br />nationalize a company or industry, place restrictions on foreign ownership and <br />on withdrawing sale proceeds of securities from the country, and/or impose <br />punitive taxes that could adversely affect the prices of securities. In addition, <br />the economies of these countries may be dependent on relatively few industries <br />that are more susceptible to local and global changes. Securities markets in <br />these countries can also be relatively small and have substantially lower trading <br />volumes. As a result, securities issued in these countries may be more volatile <br />and less liquid, and may be more difficult to value, than securities issued in <br />countries with more developed economies and/or markets. Additionally, there may <br />be increased settlement risks for transactions in local securities.<br /> <br />Investing in mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities - Many types of bonds<br />and other debt securities, including mortgage-backed/related securities, are<br />subject to prepayment risk as well as the risks associated with investing in<br />debt securities in general. If interest rates fall and the loans underlying<br />these securities are prepaid faster than expected, the underlying fund may have<br />to reinvest the prepaid principal in lower yielding securities, thus reducing<br />the fund's income. Conversely, if interest rates increase and the loans<br />underlying the securities are prepaid more slowly than expected, the expected<br />duration of the securities may be extended, reducing the cash flow for potential<br />reinvestment in higher yielding securities.<br /> <br />Investing in U.S. government securities - Securities backed by the U.S. Treasury<br />or the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are guaranteed only as to<br />the timely payment of interest and principal when held to maturity. Accordingly,<br />the current market values for these securities will fluctuate with changes in<br />interest rates. Securities issued by government-sponsored entities and federal<br />agencies and instrumentalities that are not backed by the full faith and credit<br />of the U.S. government are neither issued nor guaranteed by the U.S. government.<br /> <br />Management - The investment adviser to the fund and to the underlying funds<br />actively manages each underlying fund's investments. Consequently, the<br />underlying funds are subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed<br />by the investment adviser in this process may not produce the desired results.<br />This could cause an underlying fund to lose value or its investment results to<br />lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.<br /> <br />Your investment in the fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or<br />guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other<br />governmental agency, entity or person. You should consider how this fund <br />fits into your overall investment program.</tt>
Fees and expenses of the fund
Principal investment strategies
<tt>Because the fund began investment operations on September 14, 2012, information<br />regarding investment results is not available as of the date of this prospectus.</tt>
<tt>This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold<br />shares of the fund. You may qualify for a Class 529-A sales charge discount if<br />you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000<br />in American Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available<br />from your financial professional and in the "Sales charge reductions and waivers" <br />section on page 51 of the prospectus and on page 65 of the fund's statement of <br />additional information.</tt>
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/OperatingExpensesData_S000037536Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
For the share classes listed below, you would pay the following if you did not redeem your shares:
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.
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/ExpenseExampleNoRedemption_S000037536Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/ShareholderFeesData_S000037536Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
CTFFX
0
0.0000
93
291
-0.0010
1109
504
0.0034
0.0010
2013-12-31
0.00
0.0000
0.0072
0.0082
10
0.0038
0.0000
CTFEX
0
0.0000
138
429
-0.0010
1615
740
0.0028
0.0010
2013-12-31
0.00
0.0050
0.0116
0.0126
10
0.0038
0.0000
CTFCX
0
0.0000
292
192
592
-0.0010
2195
1017
0.0031
0.0010
2013-12-31
2195
592
1017
0.00
0.0100
0.0169
0.0179
10
0.0038
0.0100
CCFBX
0
0.0000
698
198
1011
-0.0010
2048
1248
0.0037
0.0010
2013-12-31
2048
611
1048
0.00
0.0100
0.0175
0.0185
10
0.0038
0.0500
CFTAX
0
0.0425
537
772
-0.0010
1736
1023
0.0031
0.0010
2013-12-31
0.00
0.0025
0.0094
0.0104
10
0.0038
0.0100
<tt>The fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and <br />sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover <br />rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected <br />in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund's investment <br />results.</tt>
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/ExpenseExample_S000037535Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
<tt>The fund will seek to achieve the following objectives to varying degrees:<br />growth, income and preservation of capital, depending on the proximity to <br />its target date. The target date is meant to roughly correspond to the year <br />in which the fund beneficiary will start to withdraw funds to meet higher <br />education expenses. The fund will increasingly emphasize income and <br />preservation of capital by investing a greater portion of its assets in bond, <br />equity-income and balanced funds as it approaches and passes its target date. <br />In this way, the fund seeks to achieve an appropriate balance of total return <br />and stability during different time periods.</tt>
<tt>This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund <br />with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.<br /> <br />The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods<br />indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The<br />example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that <br />the fund's operating expenses remain the same.</tt>
<tt>The fund will attempt to achieve its investment objectives by investing in a mix<br />of American Funds in different combinations and weightings. The underlying<br />American Funds represent a variety of fund categories such as growth funds,<br />growth-and-income funds, equity-income funds, balanced funds and bond funds. The<br />fund categories represent differing investment objectives. For example, growth<br />funds seek long-term growth primarily through investing in both U.S. stocks and<br />stocks of issuers domiciled outside the U.S. Growth-and-income funds seek<br />long-term growth-and-income primarily through investments in stocks. Equity-income <br />and balanced funds generally strive for income and growth through stocks and/or <br />bond investments, while bond funds seek current income through bond investments.<br /> <br />The investment adviser may periodically rebalance or modify the asset mix of the<br />funds and change the underlying fund investments. According to its current<br />investment approach, the percentage of the fund invested in different categories<br />will change until the fund reaches its target date. Upon reaching its target<br />date, the fund will be principally invested in fixed-income funds and may merge<br />into the Enrollment Fund, which will also be principally invested in<br />fixed-income funds.<br /> <br />The fund's investment adviser periodically reviews the investment strategies and<br />asset mix of the underlying funds. The investment adviser will also consider<br />whether overall market conditions would favor a change in the exposure of the<br />fund to various asset types or geographic regions. Based on these considerations, <br />the investment adviser may make adjustments to underlying fund holdings by <br />adjusting the percentage of individual underlying funds within the fund, or <br />adding or removing underlying funds. The investment adviser may also determine <br />not to change the underlying fund allocations, particularly in response to <br />short-term market movements, if in its opinion the combination of underlying <br />funds is appropriate to meet the fund's investment objective.<br /> <br />With respect to its fixed-income investments, the underlying funds in which <br />the fund invests may hold debt securities with a wide range of quality and <br />maturities. The fund may invest in underlying funds with significant exposure <br />to bonds rated BB+ or below and Ba1 or below by Nationally Recognized Statistical <br />Rating Organizations designated by the fund's investment adviser, or unrated but<br />determined by the fund's investment adviser to be of equivalent quality.<br />Securities rated BB+ or below and Ba1 or below are sometimes referred to as<br />"junk bonds." Exposure to lower rated securities may help the fund achieve its<br />objective of providing current income.<br /> <br />The underlying funds may hold securities issued and guaranteed by the U.S.<br />government, securities issued by federal agencies and instrumentalities and<br />securities backed by mortgages or other assets. The underlying funds may also<br />invest in the debt securities of governments, agencies, corporations and other<br />entities domiciled outside the United States.<br />  <br />The following chart illustrates the current investment approach of the fund by<br />showing how its investment in the various fund categories will change over time.<br /> <br />                                            Current investment approach <br /><br />                                     2030     2027     2024     2021    2018     2015     Enrollment<br /><br />Growth funds                          20%      15%      10%       0%      0%       0%          0%                             <br />Growth-and-income funds               70%      55%      45%      40%     20%       0%          0%<br />Equity-income and balanced funds       0%      10%      10%      15%     20%      10%          0%<br />Bond funds                            10%      20%      35%      45%     60%      90%        100%<br /><br />Years to distribution               15-18    12-15     9-12      6-9     3-6      0-3     target date<br /><br />The investment adviser anticipates that the fund will invest its assets within a<br />range that deviates no more than 10% above or below the investment approach set<br />forth above. For example, a 20% target allocation to growth funds is not expected <br />to be greater than 30% or less than 10%. The investment adviser will continuously <br />monitor the fund and may make modifications to either the investment approach or <br />the underlying fund allocations that the investment adviser believes could benefit <br />shareholders.</tt>
American Funds College 2027 FundSM
You may qualify for a Class 529-A sales charge discount if you and your
family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000 in
American Funds.
Example
Because the fund began investment operations on September 14, 2012, information
regarding investment results is not available as of the date of this prospectus.
Investment objective
You may lose money by investing in the fund.
Principal risks
Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Investment results
25000
Annual fund operating expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Portfolio turnover
<tt>This section describes the principal risks associated with the fund's principal<br />investment strategies. You may lose money by investing in the fund. The<br />likelihood of loss may be greater if you invest for a shorter period of time.<br />Investors in the fund should have a long-term perspective and be able to<br />tolerate potentially sharp declines in value.<br /> <br />Allocation risk - Investments in the fund are subject to risks related to the<br />investment adviser's allocation choices. The selection of the underlying funds<br />and the allocation of the fund's assets could cause the fund to lose value or<br />its results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.<br /> <br />Fund structure - The fund invests in underlying funds and incurs expenses<br />related to the underlying funds. In addition, investors in the fund will incur<br />fees to pay for certain expenses related to the operations of the fund. An<br />investor holding the underlying funds directly and in the same proportions as<br />the fund would incur lower overall expenses but would not receive the benefit <br />of the portfolio management and other services provided by the fund.<br /> <br />Because the fund's investments consist of underlying funds, the fund's risks are<br />directly related to the risks of the underlying funds. For this reason, it is<br />important to understand the risks associated with investing in the underlying<br />funds.<br /> <br />Market conditions - The prices of, and the income generated by, the common<br />stocks, bonds and other securities held by the underlying funds may decline due<br />to market conditions and other factors, including those directly involving the<br />issuers of securities held by the underlying funds.<br /> <br />Investing in stocks - Investing in stocks may involve larger price swings and<br />greater potential for loss than other types of investments. As a result, the<br />value of the underlying funds may be subject to sharp, short-term declines in<br />value. Income provided by an underlying fund may be reduced by changes in the<br />dividend policies of, and the capital resources available at, the companies in<br />which the underlying fund invests.<br /> <br />Investing in growth-oriented stocks - Growth-oriented stocks may involve larger<br />price swings and greater potential for loss than other types of investments.<br /> <br />Investing in income-oriented stocks - Income provided by an underlying fund may<br />be reduced by changes in the dividend policies of, and the capital resources<br />available at, the companies in which the underlying fund invests.<br /> <br />Investing in bonds - Rising interest rates will generally cause the prices of<br />bonds and other debt securities to fall. Longer maturity debt securities may be<br />subject to greater price fluctuations than shorter maturity debt securities. In<br />addition, falling interest rates may cause an issuer to redeem, call or refinance <br />a security before its stated maturity, which may result in the underlying fund <br />having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities.<br /> <br />Bonds and other debt securities are subject to credit risk, which is the<br />possibility that the credit strength of an issuer will weaken and/or an issuer<br />of a debt security will fail to make timely payments of principal or interest<br />and the security will go into default. Credit risk is gauged, in part, by the<br />credit ratings of the securities in which the underlying fund invests. However,<br />ratings are only the opinions of the rating agencies issuing them and are not<br />guarantees as to credit quality or an evaluation of market risk.<br /> <br />Investing in lower rated bonds - Lower rated bonds and other lower rated debt<br />securities generally have higher rates of interest and involve greater risk of<br />default or price declines due to changes in the issuer's creditworthiness than<br />those of higher quality debt securities. The market prices of these securities<br />may fluctuate more than the prices of higher quality debt securities and may<br />decline significantly in periods of general economic difficulty. These risks <br />may be increased with respect to investments in bonds rated Ba1 or BB+ or <br />below by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations or unrated <br />but determined by the underlying fund's investment adviser to be of equivalent <br />quality. Such securities are considered speculative and are sometimes referred <br />to as "junk bonds." The value of the underlying funds may be similarly affected.<br /> <br />Investing in small companies - Investing in smaller companies may pose additional <br />risks. For example, it is often more difficult to value or dispose of small <br />company stocks and more difficult to obtain information about smaller companies <br />than about larger companies. In addition, the prices of these stocks may be more <br />volatile than stocks of larger, more established companies.<br /> <br />Investing outside the United States - Securities of issuers domiciled outside<br />the United States, or with significant operations outside the United States, <br />may lose value because of adverse political, social, economic or market <br />developments in the countries or regions in which the issuer operates. These <br />securities may also lose value due to changes in foreign currency exchange <br />rates against the U.S. dollar and/or currencies of other countries. Securities <br />markets in certain countries may be more volatile and/or less liquid than those <br />in the United States. Investments outside the United States may also be subject <br />to different settlement and accounting practices and different regulatory, legal <br />and reporting standards, and may be more difficult to value, than those in the<br />United States. The risks of investing outside the United States may be heightened <br />in connection with investments in emerging markets.<br /> <br />Investing in emerging markets - Investing in emerging markets may involve risks<br />in addition to and greater than those generally associated with investing in<br />developed countries. For instance, developing countries may have less developed<br />legal and accounting systems than those in developed countries. The governments<br />of these countries may be less stable and more likely to impose capital controls, <br />nationalize a company or industry, place restrictions on foreign ownership and <br />on withdrawing sale proceeds of securities from the country, and/or impose <br />punitive taxes that could adversely affect the prices of securities. In addition, <br />the economies of these countries may be dependent on relatively few industries <br />that are more susceptible to local and global changes. Securities markets in <br />these countries can also be relatively small and have substantially lower trading <br />volumes. As a result, securities issued in these countries may be more volatile <br />and less liquid, and may be more difficult to value, than securities issued in <br />countries with more developed economies and/or markets. Additionally, there may <br />be increased settlement risks for transactions in local securities.<br /> <br />Management - The investment adviser to the fund and to the underlying funds<br />actively manages each underlying fund's investments. Consequently, the<br />underlying funds are subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed<br />by the investment adviser in this process may not produce the desired results.<br />This could cause an underlying fund to lose value or its investment results to<br />lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.<br /> <br />Your investment in the fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or<br />guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental <br />agency, entity or person. You should consider how this fund fits into your overall <br />investment program.</tt>
Fees and expenses of the fund
Principal investment strategies
<tt>Because the fund began investment operations on September 14, 2012, information<br />regarding investment results is not available as of the date of this prospectus.</tt>
<tt>This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold<br />shares of the fund. You may qualify for a Class 529-A sales charge discount if<br />you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000<br />in American Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available<br />from your financial professional and in the "Sales charge reductions and<br />waivers" section on page 51 of the prospectus and on page 65 of the fund's<br />statement of additional information.</tt>
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/OperatingExpensesData_S000037535Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
For the share classes listed below, you would pay the following if you did not redeem your shares:
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.
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CTSEX
0
0.0000
141
442
-0.0012
1670
764
0.0030
0.0010
2013-12-31
0.00
0.0050
0.0119
0.0131
10
0.0041
0.0000
CTSCX
0
0.0000
295
195
606
-0.0012
2247
1041
0.0033
0.0010
2013-12-31
2247
606
1041
0.00
0.0100
0.0172
0.0184
10
0.0041
0.0100
CTSBX
0
0.0000
701
201
1024
-0.0012
2100
1272
0.0039
0.0010
2013-12-31
2100
624
1072
0.00
0.0100
0.0178
0.0190
10
0.0041
0.0500
CSTAX
0
0.0425
540
785
-0.0012
1789
1047
0.0033
0.0010
2013-12-31
0.00
0.0025
0.0097
0.0109
10
0.0041
0.0100
CTSFX
0
0.0000
96
305
-0.0012
1166
529
0.0036
0.0010
2013-12-31
0.00
0.0000
0.0075
0.0087
10
0.0041
0.0000
<tt>The fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and <br />sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover <br />rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected <br />in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund's investment <br />results.</tt>
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/ExpenseExample_S000037534Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
<tt>The fund will seek to achieve the following objectives to varying degrees:<br />growth, income and preservation of capital, depending on the proximity to <br />its target date. The target date is meant to roughly correspond to the year <br />in which the fund beneficiary will start to withdraw funds to meet higher <br />education expenses. The fund will increasingly emphasize income and <br />preservation of capital by investing a greater portion of its assets in <br />bond, equity-income and balanced funds as it approaches and passes its <br />target date. In this way, the fund seeks to achieve an appropriate balance <br />of total return and stability during different time periods.</tt>
<tt>This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund <br />with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.<br /> <br />The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods<br />indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The<br />example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that <br />the fund's operating expenses remain the same.</tt>
<tt>The fund will attempt to achieve its investment objectives by investing in <br />a mix of American Funds in different combinations and weightings. The <br />underlying American Funds represent a variety of fund categories such as <br />growth funds, growth-and-income funds, equity-income funds, balanced funds <br />and bond funds. The fund categories represent differing investment objectives. <br />For example, growth funds seek long-term growth primarily through investing <br />in both U.S. stocks and stocks of issuers domiciled outside the U.S. <br />Growth-and-income funds seek long-term growth-and-income primarily through <br />investments in stocks. Equity-income and balanced funds generally strive for <br />income and growth through stocks and/or bond investments, while bond funds <br />seek current income through bond investments.<br /> <br />The investment adviser may periodically rebalance or modify the asset mix of <br />the funds and change the underlying fund investments. According to its current<br />investment approach, the percentage of the fund invested in different categories<br />will change until the fund reaches its target date. Upon reaching its target<br />date, the fund will be principally invested in fixed-income funds and may merge<br />into the Enrollment Fund, which will also be principally invested in<br />fixed-income funds.<br /> <br />The fund's investment adviser periodically reviews the investment strategies and<br />asset mix of the underlying funds. The investment adviser will also consider<br />whether overall market conditions would favor a change in the exposure of the<br />fund to various asset types or geographic regions. Based on these considerations, <br />the investment adviser may make adjustments to underlying fund holdings by <br />adjusting the percentage of individual underlying funds within the fund, or <br />adding or removing underlying funds. The investment adviser may also determine <br />not to change the underlying fund allocations, particularly in response to <br />short-term market movements, if in its opinion the combination of underlying <br />funds is appropriate to meet the fund's investment objective.<br /> <br />With respect to its fixed-income investments, the underlying funds in which the<br />fund invests may hold debt securities with a wide range of quality and maturities. <br />The fund may invest in underlying funds with significant exposure to bonds rated <br />BB+ or below and Ba1 or below by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating <br />Organizations designated by the fund's investment adviser, or unrated but<br />determined by the fund's investment adviser to be of equivalent quality.<br />Securities rated BB+ or below and Ba1 or below are sometimes referred to as<br />"junk bonds." Exposure to lower rated securities may help the fund achieve its<br />objective of providing current income.<br /> <br />The underlying funds may hold securities issued and guaranteed by the U.S.<br />government, securities issued by federal agencies and instrumentalities and<br />securities backed by mortgages or other assets. The underlying funds may also<br />invest in the debt securities of governments, agencies, corporations and other<br />entities domiciled outside the United States.<br />  <br />The following chart illustrates the current investment approach of the fund by<br />showing how its investment in the various fund categories will change over time.<br /> <br />                                            Current investment approach<br /><br />                                     2030     2027     2024     2021    2018     2015     Enrollment<br /><br />Growth funds                          20%      15%      10%       0%      0%       0%          0%                             <br />Growth-and-income funds               70%      55%      45%      40%     20%       0%          0%<br />Equity-income and balanced funds       0%      10%      10%      15%     20%      10%          0%<br />Bond funds                            10%      20%      35%      45%     60%      90%        100%<br /><br />Years to distribution               15-18    12-15     9-12      6-9     3-6      0-3     target date<br /><br />The investment adviser anticipates that the fund will invest its assets within a<br />range that deviates no more than 10% above or below the investment approach set<br />forth above. For example, a 20% target allocation to growth funds is not expected <br />to be greater than 30% or less than 10%. The investment adviser will continuously <br />monitor the fund and may make modifications to either the investment approach or <br />the underlying fund allocations that the investment adviser believes could benefit <br />shareholders.</tt>
American Funds College 2030 FundSM
You may qualify for a Class 529-A sales charge discount if you and your
family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000 in
American Funds.
Example
Because the fund began investment operations on September 14, 2012, information
regarding investment results is not available as of the date of this prospectus.
Investment objective
You may lose money by investing in the fund.
Principal risks
Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Investment results
25000
Annual fund operating expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Portfolio turnover
<tt>This section describes the principal risks associated with the fund's principal<br />investment strategies. You may lose money by investing in the fund. The<br />likelihood of loss may be greater if you invest for a shorter period of time.<br />Investors in the fund should have a long-term perspective and be able to<br />tolerate potentially sharp declines in value.<br /> <br />Allocation risk - Investments in the fund are subject to risks related to the<br />investment adviser's allocation choices. The selection of the underlying funds<br />and the allocation of the fund's assets could cause the fund to lose value or<br />its results to lag relevant benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.<br /> <br />Fund structure - The fund invests in underlying funds and incurs expenses<br />related to the underlying funds. In addition, investors in the fund will incur<br />fees to pay for certain expenses related to the operations of the fund. An<br />investor holding the underlying funds directly and in the same proportions as<br />the fund would incur lower overall expenses but would not receive the benefit <br />of the portfolio management and other services provided by the fund.<br /> <br />Because the fund's investments consist of underlying funds, the fund's risks are<br />directly related to the risks of the underlying funds. For this reason, it is<br />important to understand the risks associated with investing in the underlying<br />funds.<br /> <br />Market conditions - The prices of, and the income generated by, the common<br />stocks, bonds and other securities held by the underlying funds may decline <br />due to market conditions and other factors, including those directly involving <br />the issuers of securities held by the underlying funds.<br /> <br />Investing in stocks - Investing in stocks may involve larger price swings and<br />greater potential for loss than other types of investments. As a result, the<br />value of the underlying funds may be subject to sharp, short-term declines in<br />value. Income provided by an underlying fund may be reduced by changes in the<br />dividend policies of, and the capital resources available at, the companies in<br />which the underlying fund invests.<br /> <br />Investing in growth-oriented stocks - Growth-oriented stocks may involve larger<br />price swings and greater potential for loss than other types of investments.<br /> <br />Investing in income-oriented stocks - Income provided by an underlying fund may<br />be reduced by changes in the dividend policies of, and the capital resources<br />available at, the companies in which the underlying fund invests.<br /> <br />Investing in bonds - Rising interest rates will generally cause the prices of<br />bonds and other debt securities to fall. Longer maturity debt securities may be<br />subject to greater price fluctuations than shorter maturity debt securities. In<br />addition, falling interest rates may cause an issuer to redeem, call or<br />refinance a security before its stated maturity, which may result in the<br />underlying fund having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities.<br /> <br />Bonds and other debt securities are subject to credit risk, which is the<br />possibility that the credit strength of an issuer will weaken and/or an issuer<br />of a debt security will fail to make timely payments of principal or interest<br />and the security will go into default. Credit risk is gauged, in part, by the<br />credit ratings of the securities in which the underlying fund invests. However,<br />ratings are only the opinions of the rating agencies issuing them and are not<br />guarantees as to credit quality or an evaluation of market risk.<br /> <br />Investing in lower rated bonds - Lower rated bonds and other lower rated debt<br />securities generally have higher rates of interest and involve greater risk of<br />default or price declines due to changes in the issuer's creditworthiness than<br />those of higher quality debt securities. The market prices of these securities<br />may fluctuate more than the prices of higher quality debt securities and may<br />decline significantly in periods of general economic difficulty. These risks <br />may be increased with respect to investments in bonds rated Ba1 or BB+ or below <br />by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations or unrated but <br />determined by the underlying fund's investment adviser to be of equivalent <br />quality. Such securities are considered speculative and are sometimes referred <br />to as "junk bonds." The value of the underlying funds may be similarly affected.<br /> <br />Investing in small companies - Investing in smaller companies may pose additional <br />risks. For example, it is often more difficult to value or dispose of small <br />company stocks and more difficult to obtain information about smaller companies <br />than about larger companies. In addition, the prices of these stocks may be more <br />volatile than stocks of larger, more established companies.<br /> <br />Investing outside the United States - Securities of issuers domiciled outside<br />the United States, or with significant operations outside the United States, <br />may lose value because of adverse political, social, economic or market <br />developments in the countries or regions in which the issuer operates. These <br />securities may also lose value due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates <br />against the U.S. dollar and/or currencies of other countries. Securities markets <br />in certain countries may be more volatile and/or less liquid than those in the <br />United States. Investments outside the United States may also be subject to <br />different settlement and accounting practices and different regulatory, legal <br />and reporting standards, and may be more difficult to value, than those in the<br />United States. The risks of investing outside the United States may be<br />heightened in connection with investments in emerging markets.<br /> <br />Investing in emerging markets - Investing in emerging markets may involve risks<br />in addition to and greater than those generally associated with investing in<br />developed countries. For instance, developing countries may have less developed<br />legal and accounting systems than those in developed countries. The governments<br />of these countries may be less stable and more likely to impose capital controls, <br />nationalize a company or industry, place restrictions on foreign ownership and <br />on withdrawing sale proceeds of securities from the country, and/or impose <br />punitive taxes that could adversely affect the prices of securities. In addition, <br />the economies of these countries may be dependent on relatively few industries <br />that are more susceptible to local and global changes. Securities markets in <br />these countries can also be relatively small and have substantially lower trading <br />volumes. As a result, securities issued in these countries may be more volatile <br />and less liquid, and may be more difficult to value, than securities issued in <br />countries with more developed economies and/or markets. Additionally, there may <br />be increased settlement risks for transactions in local securities.<br /> <br />Management - The investment adviser to the fund and to the underlying funds<br />actively manages each underlying fund's investments. Consequently, the underlying <br />funds are subject to the risk that the methods and analyses employed by the <br />investment adviser in this process may not produce the desired results. This could <br />cause an underlying fund to lose value or its investment results to lag relevant <br />benchmarks or other funds with similar objectives.<br /> <br />Your investment in the fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed <br />by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency, <br />entity or person. You should consider how this fund fits into your overall investment <br />program.</tt>
Fees and expenses of the fund
Principal investment strategies
<tt>Because the fund began investment operations on September 14, 2012, information<br />regarding investment results is not available as of the date of this prospectus.</tt>
<tt>This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold<br />shares of the fund. You may qualify for a Class 529-A sales charge discount if<br />you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000<br />in American Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available<br />from your financial professional and in the "Sales charge reductions and waivers" <br />section on page 51 of the prospectus and on page 65 of the fund's statement of <br />additional information.</tt>
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/OperatingExpensesData_S000037534Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
For the share classes listed below, you would pay the following if you did not redeem your shares:
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.
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/ExpenseExampleNoRedemption_S000037534Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
<div style="display:none">~ http://www.americanfunds.com/role/ShareholderFeesData_S000037534Member column dei_LegalEntityAxis compact * column rr_ProspectusShareClassAxis compact * row primary compact * ~</div>
CTHFX
0
0.0000
96
305
-0.0012
1166
529
0.0036
0.0010
2013-12-31
0.00
0.0000
0.0075
0.0087
10
0.0041
0.0000
CTHEX
0
0.0000
141
442
-0.0012
1670
764
0.0030
0.0010
2013-12-31
0.00
0.0050
0.0119
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10
0.0041
0.0000
CTYCX
0
0.0000
295
195
606
-0.0012
2247
1041
0.0033
0.0010
2013-12-31
2247
606
1041
0.00
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0.0172
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10
0.0041
0.0100
CTHBX
0
0.0000
701
201
1024
-0.0012
2100
1272
0.0039
0.0010
2013-12-31
2100
624
1072
0.00
0.0100
0.0178
0.0190
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0.0500
CTHAX
0
0.0425
540
785
-0.0012
1789
1047
0.0033
0.0010
2013-12-31
0.00
0.0025
0.0097
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10
0.0041
0.0100
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2013-01-01
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2013-01-01
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2013-01-01
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2013-01-01
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iso4217:USD
pure
A contingent deferred sales charge of 1.00% applies on certain redemptions within one year following purchases of $1 million or more made without an initial sales charge.
Based on estimated amounts for a full fiscal year.
The investment adviser is currently waiving its management fee of .10%. In addition, the investment adviser is currently reimbursing a portion of the other expenses for each share class. This waiver and reimbursement will be in effect through at least December 31, 2013. The adviser may elect at its discretion to extend, modify or terminate the reimbursement at that time. The waiver may only be modified or terminated with the approval of the fund's board. The amounts of the reimbursements in the table are estimated.
The investment adviser is currently waiving its management fee of .10%. This waiver will be in effect through at least December 31, 2013. The waiver may only be modified or terminated with the approval of the fund's board.