A, C, T, F-1, F-2, F-3 Shares Prospectus | AMERICAN FUNDS SHORT-TERM TAX-EXEMPT BOND FUND

AMERICAN FUNDS SHORT-TERM TAX-EXEMPT BOND FUND

Investment objective

The fund’s investment objective is to provide you with current income exempt from regular federal income tax, consistent with the maturity and quality standards described in this prospectus, and to preserve capital.

Fees and expenses of the fund

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. In addition to the fees and expenses described below, you may also be required to pay brokerage commissions on purchases and sales of Class F-2 or F-3 shares of the fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $500,000 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 72 of the prospectus and on page 80 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 - A, C, T, F-1, F-2, F-3 Shares Prospectus - AMERICAN FUNDS SHORT-TERM TAX-EXEMPT BOND FUND	Class A		Class T	Class F-1	Class F-2	Class F-3
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	2.50%		2.50%	none	none	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load) (as a percentage of the amount redeemed)	1.00%	[1]	none	none	none	none
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on reinvested dividends	none		none	none	none	none
Redemption or exchange fees	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 - A, C, T, F-1, F-2, F-3 Shares Prospectus - AMERICAN FUNDS SHORT-TERM TAX-EXEMPT BOND FUND	Class A	Class T		Class F-1	Class F-2	Class F-3
Management fees	0.36%	0.36%		0.36%	0.36%	0.36%
Distribution and/or service (12b-1) fees	0.15%	0.25%		0.25%	none	none
Other expenses	0.08%	0.11%	[1]	0.21%	0.20%	0.09%	[1]
Total annual fund operating expenses	0.59%	0.72%		0.82%	0.56%	0.45%

Example

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

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

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

Expense Example - A, C, T, F-1, F-2, F-3 Shares Prospectus - AMERICAN FUNDS SHORT-TERM TAX-EXEMPT BOND FUND - USD ($)	Class A	Class T	Class F-1	Class F-2	Class F-3
1 year	$ 309	$ 322	$ 84	$ 57	$ 46
3 years	434	474	262	179	144
5 years	571	641	455	313	252
10 years	$ 969	$ 1,122	$ 1,014	$ 701	$ 567

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 26% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal investment strategies

Under normal circumstances, the fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in, or derive at least 80% of its income from, securities that are exempt from regular federal income tax and that do not subject you to federal alternative minimum tax. The fund may also invest up to 20% of its assets in securities that may subject you to federal alternative minimum tax. The fund invests primarily in debt securities rated AA- or better or Aa3 or better by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser, or unrated but determined by the fund’s investment adviser to be of equivalent quality. The fund may also invest in debt securities rated A- or better or A3 or better by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations designated by the fund’s investment adviser, or unrated but determined by the fund’s investment adviser to be of equivalent quality. Some of the securities in which the fund invests may have credit and liquidity support features, including guarantees and letters of credit. The fund’s aggregate portfolio will have a dollar-weighted average effective maturity no greater than three years.

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 who decide how their respective segments will be invested.

The fund relies on the professional judgment of its investment adviser to make decisions about the fund’s portfolio investments. The basic investment philosophy of the investment adviser is to seek to invest in attractively priced securities that, in its opinion, represent good, long-term investment opportunities. The investment adviser believes that an important way to accomplish this is by analyzing various factors, which may include the credit strength of the issuer, prices of similar securities issued by comparable issuers, anticipated changes in interest rates, general market conditions and other factors pertinent to the particular security being evaluated. 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 the fund’s principal investment strategies. You may lose money by investing in the fund. The likelihood of loss may be greater if you invest for a shorter period of time.

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

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

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

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

Rising interest rates will generally cause the prices of bonds and other debt securities to fall. 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 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 will weaken 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. 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 mitigate various credit and default risks.

Liquidity risk — Certain fund holdings may be deemed to be less liquid or illiquid because they cannot be readily sold without significantly impacting the value of the holdings. Liquidity risk may result from 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.

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

Investing in similar municipal bonds — Investing significantly in municipal obligations of multiple issuers in the same state or backed by revenues of similar types of projects or industries may make the fund more susceptible to certain economic, political or regulatory occurrences. As a result, the potential for fluctuations in the fund’s share price may increase.

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 employed by the investment adviser in this process 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 Lipper Short Municipal Debt Funds Average includes the fund and other funds that disclose investment objectives and/or strategies reasonably comparable to those of the fund. The results below and on the following page for certain periods shown reflect the operation of the fund as a money market fund prior to its conversion on August 7, 2009 to a short-term tax-exempt bond fund. Accordingly, results for such periods are not representative of the fund’s results had the fund been operated as a short-term tax-exempt bond fund during the entire period. Past investment results (before and after taxes) are not predictive of future investment results. Updated information on the fund’s investment results can be obtained by visiting americanfunds.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 A shares (Results do not include a sales charge; if a sales charge were included, results would be lower.)

Highest/Lowest quarterly results during this period were:

Highest 1.29% (quarter ended September 30, 2010)

Lowest -1.00% (quarter ended December 31, 2016)

The fund's total return for the six months ended June 30, 2017, was 1.50%.

Average annual total returns For the periods ended December 31, 2016 (with maximum sales charge):

Average Annual Returns - A, C, T, F-1, F-2, F-3 Shares Prospectus - AMERICAN FUNDS SHORT-TERM TAX-EXEMPT BOND FUND	Label	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 A	A Before taxes	(2.53%)	0.18%	1.05%		Oct. 24, 1989
Class F-1	F-1 Before taxes	(0.26%)	0.45%		0.98%	Aug. 27, 2009
Class F-2	F-2 Before taxes	none	0.71%		1.23%	Aug. 12, 2009
After Taxes on Distributions | Class A	A After taxes on distributions	(2.53%)	0.18%	1.05%
After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares | Class A	A After taxes on distributions and sale of fund shares	(0.98%)	0.40%	1.11%
Bloomberg Barclays Municipal Short 1-5 Years Index (reflects no deductions for sales charges, account fees, expenses or U.S. federal income taxes)	Bloomberg Barclays Municipal Short 1-5 Years Index (reflects no deductions for sales charges, account fees, expenses or U.S. federal income taxes)	0.07%	1.09%	2.64%		Oct. 24, 1989
Lipper Short Municipal Debt Funds Average (reflects no deductions for sales charges, account fees or U.S. federal income taxes)	Lipper Short Municipal Debt Funds Average (reflects no deductions for sales charges, account fees or U.S. federal income taxes)	(0.11%)	0.62%	1.56%		Oct. 24, 1989

After-tax returns are shown only for Class A 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.

[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.

[1] Based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.