Total

AMERICAN BALANCED FUND

American Balanced Fund

Investment objectives

The investment objectives of the fund are: (1) conservation of capital, (2) current income and (3) long-term growth of capital and income.

Fees and expenses of the fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below. For example, in addition to the fees and expenses described below, you may also be required to pay brokerage commissions on purchases and sales of Class F-2, F-3, 529-F-2 or 529-F-3 shares of the fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000 in American Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional, in the “Sales charge reductions and waivers” sections on page 36 of the prospectus and on page 84 of the fund’s statement of additional information, and in the sales charge waiver appendix to this prospectus.

Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees - AMERICAN BALANCED FUND	Class A		Class 529-A		Class C	Class 529-C	Class 529-E	Class T	Class 529-T	Class F-1	Class F-2	Class F-3	Class 529-F-1	Class 529-F-2	Class 529-F-3	Class R-1	Class R-2	Class R-3	Class R-4	Class R-5	Class R-6	Class R-2E	Class R-5E
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	5.75%		3.50%		none	none	none	2.50%	2.50%	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load) (as a percentage of the amount redeemed)	1.00%	[1]	1.00%	[1]	1.00%	1.00%	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on reinvested dividends	none		none		none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none
Redemption or exchange fees	none		none		none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none	none

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

Annual Fund Operating Expenses - AMERICAN BALANCED FUND	Class A	Class C	Class T	Class F-1	Class F-2	Class F-3	Class 529-A	Class 529-C	Class 529-E	Class 529-T	Class 529-F-1	Class 529-F-2	Class 529-F-3	Class R-1	Class R-2	Class R-2E	Class R-3	Class R-4	Class R-5E	Class R-5	Class R-6
Management fees	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%	0.21%
Distribution and/or service (12b-1) fees	0.25%	1.00%	0.25%	0.25%	none	none	0.24%	1.00%	0.50%	0.25%	0.25%	none	none	1.00%	0.75%	0.60%	0.50%	0.25%	none	none	none
Other expenses	0.10%	0.10%	0.10%	0.16%	0.14%	0.04%	0.15%	0.15%	0.12%	0.16%	0.20%	0.15%	0.09%	0.11%	0.37%	0.23%	0.18%	0.14%	0.18%	0.09%	0.04%
Total annual fund operating expenses	0.56%	1.31%	0.56%	0.62%	0.35%	0.25%	0.60%	1.36%	0.83%	0.62%	0.66%	0.36%	0.30%	1.32%	1.33%	1.04%	0.89%	0.60%	0.39%	0.30%	0.25%

Example

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

The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same. You may be required to pay brokerage commissions on your purchases and sales of Class F-2, F-3, 529-F-2 or 529-F-3 shares of the fund, which are not reflected in the example.

Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example - AMERICAN BALANCED FUND - USD ($)	Class A	Class C	Class T	Class F-1	Class F-2	Class F-3	Class 529-A	Class 529-C	Class 529-E	Class 529-T	Class 529-F-1	Class 529-F-2	Class 529-F-3	Class R-1	Class R-2	Class R-2E	Class R-3	Class R-4	Class R-5E	Class R-5	Class R-6
1 year	$ 629	$ 233	$ 306	$ 63	$ 36	$ 26	$ 409	$ 238	$ 85	$ 312	$ 67	$ 37	$ 31	$ 134	$ 135	$ 106	$ 91	$ 61	$ 40	$ 31	$ 26
3 years	744	415	425	199	113	80	535	431	265	444	211	116	97	418	421	331	284	192	125	97	80
5 years	870	718	555	346	197	141	673	745	460	587	368	202	169	723	729	574	493	335	219	169	141
10 years	$ 1,236	$ 1,372	$ 934	$ 774	$ 443	$ 318	$ 1,074	$ 1,145	$ 1,025	$ 1,005	$ 822	$ 456	$ 381	$ 1,590	$ 1,601	$ 1,271	$ 1,096	$ 750	$ 493	$ 381	$ 318

For the share classes listed to the right, you would pay the following if you did not redeem your shares:

Expense Example No Redemption - AMERICAN BALANCED FUND - USD ($)	Class C	Class 529-C
1 year	$ 133	$ 138
3 years	415	431
5 years	718	745
10 years	$ 1,372	$ 1,145

Portfolio turnover

The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund’s investment results. During the most recent fiscal year, the fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 158% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal investment strategies

The fund uses a balanced approach to invest in a broad range of securities, including common stocks and investment-grade bonds (rated Baa3 or better or BBB- or better by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser or unrated but determined to be of equivalent quality). The fund also invests in securities issued and guaranteed by the U.S. government and by federal agencies and instrumentalities. In addition, the fund may invest a portion of its assets in common stocks, most of which have a history of paying dividends, bonds and other securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States.

Normally the fund will maintain at least 50% of the value of its assets in common stocks and at least 25% of the value of its assets in debt securities, including money market securities. Although the fund focuses on investments in medium to larger capitalization companies, the fund’s investments are not limited to a particular capitalization size.

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

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

Principal risks

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

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

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

Issuer risks — The prices of, and the income generated by, securities held by the fund may decline in response to various factors directly related to the issuers of such securities, including reduced demand for an issuer’s goods or services, poor management performance, major litigation, investigations or other controversies related to the issuer, changes in government regulations affecting the issuer or its competitive

environment and strategic initiatives such as mergers, acquisitions or dispositions and the market response to any such initiatives.

Investing in growth-oriented stocks — Growth-oriented common stocks and other equity-type securities (such as preferred stocks, convertible preferred stocks and convertible bonds) may involve larger price swings and greater potential for loss than other types of investments.

Investing in income-oriented stocks — The value of the fund’s securities and income provided by the fund may be reduced by changes in the dividend policies of, and the capital resources available for dividend payments at, the companies in which the fund invests.

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

Rising interest rates will generally cause the prices of bonds and other debt securities to fall. A general rise in interest rates may cause investors to sell debt securities on a large scale, which could also adversely affect the price and liquidity of debt securities and could also result in increased redemptions from the fund. Falling interest rates may cause an issuer to redeem, call or refinance a debt security before its stated maturity, which may result in the fund failing to recoup the full amount of its initial investment and having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities. Longer maturity debt securities generally have greater sensitivity to changes in interest rates and may be subject to greater price fluctuations than shorter maturity debt securities.

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

Investing in securities backed by the U.S. government — Securities backed by the U.S. Treasury or the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are guaranteed only as to the timely payment of interest and principal when held to maturity. Accordingly, the current market values for these securities will fluctuate with changes in interest rates and the credit rating of the U.S. government. Securities issued by U.S. government-sponsored entities and federal agencies and instrumentalities that are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are neither issued nor guaranteed by the U.S. government.

Investing in mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities — Mortgage-related securities, such as mortgage-backed securities, and other asset-backed securities, include debt obligations that represent interests in pools of mortgages or other income-bearing assets, such as consumer loans or receivables. While such securities are subject

to the risks associated with investments in debt instruments generally (for example, credit, extension and interest rate risks), they are also subject to other and different risks. Mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities are subject to changes in the payment patterns of borrowers of the underlying debt, potentially increasing the volatility of the securities and the fund’s net asset value. When interest rates fall, borrowers are more likely to refinance or prepay their debt before its stated maturity. This may result in the fund having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities, effectively reducing the fund’s income. Conversely, if interest rates rise and borrowers repay their debt more slowly than expected, the time in which the mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities are paid off could be extended, reducing the fund’s cash available for reinvestment in higher yielding securities. Mortgage-backed securities are also subject to the risk that underlying borrowers will be unable to meet their obligations and the value of property that secures the mortgages may decline in value and be insufficient, upon foreclosure, to repay the associated loans. Investments in asset-backed securities are subject to similar risks.

Liquidity risk — Certain fund holdings may be or may become difficult or impossible to sell, particularly during times of market turmoil. Liquidity may be impacted by the lack of an active market for a holding, legal or contractual restrictions on resale, or the reduced number and capacity of market participants to make a market in such holding. Market prices for less liquid or illiquid holdings may be volatile, and reduced liquidity may have an adverse impact on the market price of such holdings. Additionally, the sale of less liquid or illiquid holdings may involve substantial delays (including delays in settlement) and additional costs and the fund may be unable to sell such holdings when necessary to meet its liquidity needs or may be forced to sell at a loss.

Investing outside the United States — Securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States, or with significant operations or revenues outside the United States, may lose value because of adverse political, social, economic or market developments (including social instability, regional conflicts, terrorism and war) in the countries or regions in which the issuers operate or generate revenue. These securities may also lose value due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates against the U.S. dollar and/or currencies of other countries. Issuers of these securities may be more susceptible to actions of foreign governments, such as nationalization, currency blockage or the imposition of price controls or punitive taxes, each of which could adversely impact the value of these securities. Securities markets in certain countries may be more volatile and/or less liquid than those in the United States. Investments outside the United States may also be subject to different accounting and auditing practices and standards and different regulatory, legal and reporting requirements, and may be more difficult to value, than those in the United States. In addition, the value of investments outside the United States may be reduced by foreign taxes, including foreign withholding taxes on interest and dividends. Further, there may be increased risks of delayed settlement of securities purchased or sold by the fund. The risks of investing outside the United States may be heightened in connection with investments in emerging markets.

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

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

Investment results

The following bar chart shows how the fund’s investment results have varied from year to year, and the following table shows how the fund’s average annual total returns for various periods compare with a broad measure of securities market results and other applicable measures of market results. This information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the fund. The S&P 500 Index reflects the equity market sectors in which the fund invests. The Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Index represents the U.S. investment-grade fixed-rate bond market. Past investment results (before and after taxes) are not predictive of future investment results. Prior to October 30, 2020, certain fees, such as 12b-1 fees, were not charged on Class 529-F-1 shares. If these expenses had been deducted, results would have been lower. Updated information on the fund’s investment results can be obtained by visiting capitalgroup.com.

The following bar chart shows how the fund’s investment results have varied from year to year, and the following table shows how the fund’s average annual total returns for various periods compare with a broad measure of securities market results and other applicable measures of market results.

Calendar year total returns for Class F-2 shares* (Class F-2 shares are not subject to sales charges.)

*We have elected to show Class F-2 shares because the share class has 10 years of history and has experienced substantial growth in net assets.

Highest/Lowest quarterly results during this period were:

Highest 11.98% (quarter ended June 30, 2020)

Lowest -11.58% (quarter ended March 31, 2020)

Average annual total returns For the periods ended December 31, 2021:

Average Annual Returns - AMERICAN BALANCED FUND	Average Annual Returns, 1 Year	Average Annual Returns, 5 Years	Average Annual Returns, 10 Years	Average Annual Returns, Since Inception	Average Annual Returns, Inception Date
Class F-2	16.01%	11.66%	11.35%	9.50%	Aug. 05, 2008
Class A	9.12%	10.13%	10.48%	10.59%	Jul. 26, 1975
Class C	13.88%	10.59%	10.43%	7.69%	Mar. 15, 2001
Class F-1	15.71%	11.37%	11.06%	7.99%	Mar. 15, 2001
Class F-3	16.13%			11.44%	Jan. 27, 2017
Class 529-A	11.67%	10.58%	10.65%	7.81%	Feb. 15, 2002
Class 529-C	13.86%	10.54%	10.61%	7.85%	Feb. 19, 2002
Class 529-E	15.46%	11.12%	10.79%	7.58%	Mar. 05, 2002
Class 529-F-1	15.93%	11.62%	11.29%	8.94%	Sep. 17, 2002
Class 529-F-2	15.99%			22.84%	Oct. 30, 2020
Class 529-F-3	16.06%			22.89%	Oct. 30, 2020
Class R-1	14.89%	10.57%	10.26%	7.22%	May 29, 2002
Class R-2	14.86%	10.57%	10.28%	7.21%	May 21, 2002
Class R-2E	15.21%	10.89%		8.99%	Aug. 29, 2014
Class R-3	15.36%	11.05%	10.75%	7.79%	Jun. 04, 2002
Class R-4	15.72%	11.40%	11.08%	8.28%	Jun. 21, 2002
Class R-5E	15.97%	11.62%		10.69%	Nov. 20, 2015
Class R-5	16.08%	11.72%	11.42%	8.30%	May 15, 2002
Class R-6	16.12%	11.78%	11.47%	12.10%	May 01, 2009
After Taxes on Distributions | Class F-2	14.71%	10.25%	10.10%
After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares | Class F-2	10.25%	8.95%	9.05%
60%/40% S&P 500 Index/Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Index (reflects no deductions for sales charges, account fees, expenses or U.S. federal income taxes)	15.86%	12.62%	11.14%	9.39%	Aug. 05, 2008
S&P 500 Index (reflects no deductions for sales charges, account fees, expenses or U.S. federal income taxes)	28.71%	18.47%	16.55%	12.57%	Aug. 05, 2008
Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Index (reflects no deductions for sales charges, account fees, expenses or U.S. federal income taxes)	(1.54%)	3.57%	2.90%	3.99%	Aug. 05, 2008

After-tax returns are shown only for Class F-2 shares; after-tax returns for other share classes will vary. After-tax returns are calculated using the highest individual federal income tax rates in effect during each year of the periods shown and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Your actual after-tax returns depend on your individual tax situation and likely will differ from the results shown above. In addition, after-tax returns are not relevant if you hold your fund shares through a tax-favored arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan, individual retirement account (IRA) or 529 college savings plan.

[1] A contingent deferred sales charge of 1.00% applies on certain redemptions made within 18 months following purchases of $1 million or more made without an initial sales charge. Contingent deferred sales charge is calculated based on the lesser of the offering price and market value of shares being sold.