Total

Putnam Short Term Investment Fund

Fund summary

Goal

Putnam Short Term Investment Fund seeks as high a rate of current income as Putnam Investment Management, LLC believes is consistent with preservation of capital and maintenance of liquidity.

Fees and expenses

The following tables describe the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund.

Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees	Putnam Short Term Investment Fund Class P
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load) (as a percentage of original purchase price or redemption proceeds, whichever is lower)	none

Annual fund operating expenses (expenses you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses	Putnam Short Term Investment Fund Class P
Management fees	0.25%
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees
Other expenses	0.03%
Total annual fund operating expenses	0.28%
Expense reimbursement	(0.25%)	[1]
Total annual fund operating expenses after expense reimbursement	0.03%

Example

The following hypothetical example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other funds. It assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem or hold all your shares at the end of those periods. It assumes a 5% return on your investment each year and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Only the first year of each period in the example takes into account the expense reimbursement described above. Your actual costs may be higher or lower.

Expense Example	Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year	Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years	Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years	Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years
Putnam Short Term Investment Fund | Class P | USD ($)	3	65	132	331

Portfolio turnover

The fund pays transaction-related costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when the fund’s shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or the above example, affect fund performance. The fund’s turnover rate in the most recent fiscal year was 0%,

Investments, risks, and performance

Investments
We invest in a diversified portfolio of fixed income securities comprised of short duration, investment-grade money market and other fixed income securities. The fund’s investments may include obligations of the U.S. government, its agencies and instrumentalities, which are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States (e.g., U.S. Treasury bonds and Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed bonds) or by only the credit of a federal agency or government-sponsored entity (e.g., Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgage-backed bonds), domestic corporate debt obligations, municipal debt securities, securitized debt instruments (such as mortgage- and asset-backed securities), repurchase agreements, certificates of deposit, bankers acceptances, commercial paper (including asset-backed commercial paper), time deposits, Yankee Eurodollar securities and other money market instruments. We may also invest in U.S.dollar-denominated foreign securities of these types. Under normal circumstances, the effective duration of the fund’s portfolio will generally not be greater than one year. Effective duration provides a measure of a fund’s interest-rate sensitivity. The longer a fund’s duration, the more sensitive the fund is to shifts in interest rates. The fund will maintain a dollar-weighted average portfolio maturity of three years or less.

We may consider, among other factors, credit, interest rate and prepayment risks, as well as general market conditions, when deciding whether to buy or sell investments. We may also use derivatives, such as futures, options and swap contracts, for both hedging and non-hedging purposes.

Risks

It is important to understand that you can lose money by investing in the fund.

The effects of inflation may erode the value of your investment over time. The value of investments in the fund’s portfolio may fall or fail to rise over extended periods of time for a variety of reasons, including general economic, political or financial market conditions, investor sentiment and market perceptions, government actions, geopolitical events or changes, and factors related to a specific issuer, geography, industry or sector. These and other factors may lead to increased volatility and reduced liquidity in the fund’s portfolio holdings.

The risks associated with fixed income investments include interest rate risk, which means the value of the fund’s investments is likely to fall if interest rates rise. Fixed income investments are also subject to credit risk, which is the risk that the issuer of a fixed income investment may default on payment of interest or principal. Credit risk is generally greater for debt not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, and interest rate risk is generally greater for longer-term debt. Mortgage-backed investments, unlike traditional debt investments, are also subject to prepayment risk, which means that they may increase in value less than other bonds when interest rates decline and decline in value more than other bonds when interest rates rise. We may have to invest the proceeds from prepaid investments, including mortgage-backed investments, in other investments with less attractive terms and yields.

Our use of derivatives may increase the risks of investing in the fund by increasing investment exposure (which may be considered leverage) or, in the case of many over-the-counter instruments, because of the potential inability to terminate or sell derivatives positions and the potential failure of the other party to the instrument to meet its obligations.

The fund may not achieve its goal, and it is not intended to be a complete investment program. An investment in the fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.

Performance

The performance information below gives some indication of the risks associated with an investment in the fund by showing the fund’s performance year to year and over time. Please remember that past performance is not necessarily an indication of future results.

Annual total returns for class P shares

Year-to-date performance
through 9/30/19  1.89%

Best calendar quarter
Q4 2018   0.60%

Worst calendar quarter
Q3 2014 0.01%

Average annual total returns (for periods ended 12/31/18)

Average Annual Total Returns - Putnam Short Term Investment Fund	Label	1 Year	5 Years	Since Inception	Inception Date
Class P	before taxes	2.02%	0.74%	0.64%	Feb. 19, 2013
Class P | after taxes on distributions		1.19%	0.43%	0.37%	Feb. 19, 2013
Class P | after taxes on distributions and sale of fund shares		1.19%	0.43%	0.37%	Feb. 19, 2013
ICE BofAML U.S. Treasury Bill Index (no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)		1.88%	0.64%	0.56%	Feb. 19, 2013

ICE BofAML Indexes: ICE Data Indices, LLC (“ICE BofAML”), used with permission. ICE BofAML permits use of the ICE BofAML indices and related data on an “as is” basis; makes no warranties regarding same; does not guarantee the suitability, quality, accuracy, timeliness, and/or completeness of the ICE BofAML indices or any data included in, related to, or derived therefrom; assumes no liability in connection with the use of the foregoing; and does not sponsor, endorse, or recommend Putnam Investments, or any of its products or services.

After-tax returns reflect the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown.

[1] Reflects Putnam Investment Management, LLC's contractual obligation to waive its management fee for this fund through at least November 30, 2020. This obligation may be modified or discontinued only with approval of the Board of Trustees.