afis497k.htm

497K 1 afis497k.htm AMERICAN FUNDS INSURANCE SERIES - U.S. GOVERNMENT/AAA-RATED SECURITIES FUND afis497k.htm

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The right choice for the long term/R/
[LOGO] American Funds/R/

U.S. GOVERNMENT/AAA-RATED SECURITIES
FUND/SM/ American Funds Insurance Series/R/

SUMMARY PROSPECTUS CLASS 1 SHARES MAY 1, 2012

BEFORE YOU INVEST, YOU MAY WANT TO REVIEW THE FUND'S PROSPECTUS AND STATEMENT
OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, WHICH CONTAIN MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE FUND AND
ITS RISKS. YOU CAN FIND THE FUND'S PROSPECTUS, STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION AND OTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE FUND ONLINE AT
WWW.AMERICANFUNDS.COM/AFIS. YOU CAN ALSO GET THIS INFORMATION AT NO COST BY
CALLING 800/421-9900, EXT. 65413 OR BY SENDING AN EMAIL REQUEST TO
AFISCLASS1@AMERICANFUNDS.COM. THE CURRENT PROSPECTUS AND STATEMENT OF
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, DATED MAY 1, 2012, ARE INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE INTO
THIS SUMMARY PROSPECTUS.

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE

The fund's investment objective is to provide a high level of current income
consistent with preservation of capital.

FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE FUND

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold
an interest in Class 1 shares of the fund. It does not reflect insurance
contract fees and expenses. If insurance contract fees and expenses were
reflected, expenses shown would be higher.

ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (EXPENSES THAT YOU PAY EACH YEAR AS A
PERCENTAGE OF THE VALUE OF YOUR INVESTMENT) CLASS 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Management fee......................................................... 0.33%
Other expenses......................................................... 0.01
Total annual fund operating expenses................................... 0.34

EXAMPLE

The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in
Class 1 shares of 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 your shares at the end of the periods. The example
also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund's
operating expenses remain the same. The example does not reflect insurance
contract expenses. If insurance contract expenses were reflected, expenses
shown would be higher. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based
on these assumptions, your costs would be:

1 YEAR 3 YEARS 5 YEARS 10 YEARS
----------------------------------------
Class 1 $35 $109 $191 $431

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 234% of the average value of its portfolio.

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

Normally, the fund invests at least 80% of its assets in securities that are
guaranteed or sponsored by the U.S. government or debt securities that are
rated Aaa or AAA by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations
designated by the fund's investment adviser or unrated but determined to be of
equivalent quality by the fund's investment adviser. The fund is designed for
investors seeking income and more price stability than from investing in stocks
and lower quality debt securities, and capital preservation over the long term.

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AMERICAN FUNDS INSURANCE SERIES U.S. GOVERNMENT/AAA-RATED SECURITIES FUND / SUMMARY PROSPECTUS 1
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The fund may also invest a significant portion of its assets in mortgage-backed
securities, including contracts for future delivery of such securities, such as
to be announced contracts and mortgage rolls. The contracts for future delivery
are normally of short duration and are replaced by another contract prior to
maturity. Each such transaction is reflected as turnover in the fund's
portfolio resulting in a higher portfolio turnover rate than funds that do not
employ this investment strategy. Certain of these securities may not be backed
by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government and may be supported only
by the credit of the issuer.

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

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. Securities issued by
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 bonds -- Rising interest rates will generally cause the prices of
bonds and other debt securities to fall. Longer maturity debt securities may be
subject to greater price fluctuations than shorter maturity debt securities. In
addition, falling interest rates may cause an issuer to redeem, call or
refinance a security before its stated maturity, which may result in the fund
having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities.

Bonds and other debt securities are 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.

Investing in mortgage-related securities -- Mortgage-related securities are
subject to prepayment risk, as well as the risks associated with investing in
debt securities in general. If interest rates fall and the loans underlying
these securities are prepaid faster than expected, the fund may have to
reinvest the prepaid principal in lower yielding securities, thus reducing the
fund's income. Conversely, if interest rates increase and the loans underlying
the securities are prepaid more slowly than expected, the expected duration of
the securities may be extended. This reduces the potential for the fund to
invest the principal in higher yielding securities.

Investing in future delivery contracts -- Contracts for future delivery of
mortgage-related securities, such as to be announced contracts and mortgage
dollar rolls, involve the fund selling mortgage-related securities and
simultaneously contracting to repurchase similar securities for delivery at a
future date at a predetermined price. This can increase the fund's market
exposure, and the market price of the securities the fund contracts to
repurchase could drop below their purchase price. While the fund can preserve
capital and generate gains through the use of such contracts by, for example,
realizing the difference between the sale price and the future purchase price,
the income generated by the fund may be reduced by engaging in such
transactions. In addition, these transactions may increase the turnover rate of
the fund.

Market conditions -- The prices of, and income generated by, the bonds and
other securities held by the fund may decline due to market conditions and
other factors, including those directly involving the issuers of securities
held by the fund.

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.

It is important to note that neither your investment in the fund nor the fund's
yield is guaranteed by the U.S. government. 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 government agency, entity or person.

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2 U.S. GOVERNMENT/AAA-RATED SECURITIES FUND / SUMMARY PROSPECTUS AMERICAN FUNDS INSURANCE SERIES
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INVESTMENT RESULTS

The following information shows how the investment results of the Class 1
shares of the fund have varied from year to year and how the fund's average
annual total returns for various periods compare with different broad measures
of market performance. This information provides some indication of the risks
of investing in the fund. The Lipper General U.S. Government Funds Average
includes mutual funds that disclose investment objectives and/or strategies
reasonably comparable to those of the fund. The Consumer Price Index provides a
comparison of the fund's results to inflation. Past results are not predictive
of future results. Figures shown reflect fees and expenses associated with an
investment in the fund, but do not reflect insurance contract fees and
expenses. If insurance contract fees and expenses were included, results would
have been lower.

Calendar year total returns.

[CHART]

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
9.45% 2.51% 3.58% 2.70% 3.95% 6.83% 7.84% 2.79% 5.94% 7.85%

The fund's highest/lowest quarterly results during this time period were:

HIGHEST 5.23% (quarter ended December 31, 2008)
LOWEST -1.76% (quarter ended June 30, 2004)

For periods ended December 31, 2011:

LIFETIME
(FROM FUND
AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS 1 YEAR 5 YEARS 10 YEARS INCEPTION)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fund (inception date -- 12/2/85) 7.85% 6.23% 5.32% 6.87%
Barclays Capital U.S. Government/Mortgage Backed
Securities Index (reflects no deduction for sales
charges, account fees, expenses or taxes) 7.74 6.56 5.64 7.47
Lipper General U.S. Government Funds Average (reflects
no deduction for sales charges, account fees or taxes) 8.44 5.85 4.97 6.35
Consumer Price Index (CPI) 2.96 2.26 2.48 2.83

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AMERICAN FUNDS INSURANCE SERIES U.S. GOVERNMENT/AAA-RATED SECURITIES FUND / SUMMARY PROSPECTUS 3
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MANAGEMENT

INVESTMENT ADVISER

Capital Research and Management Company

PORTFOLIO COUNSELORS

The individuals primarily responsible for the portfolio management of the fund
are:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PORTFOLIO COUNSELOR PORTFOLIO COUNSELOR EXPERIENCE PRIMARY TITLE WITH INVESTMENT ADVISER
Series title (if applicable) IN THIS FUND
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

KEVIN ADAMS 1 year Vice President - Fixed Income, Capital Research Company
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THOMAS H. HOGH 15 years Senior Vice President - Fixed Income, Capital Research Company
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FERGUS N. MACDONALD 2 years Senior Vice President - Fixed Income, Capital Research Company
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WESLEY K.-S. PHOA 2 years Senior Vice President - Fixed Income, Capital Research Company
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TAX INFORMATION

See your variable insurance contract prospectus for information regarding the
federal income tax treatment of the contracts and distributions to the separate
accounts.

PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES

If you purchase shares of the fund through a broker-dealer or other financial
intermediary (such as a bank), the fund and the fund's distributor or its
affiliates may pay the intermediary for the sale of fund shares and related
services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the
broker-dealer or other intermediary and your individual financial adviser to
recommend the fund over another investment. Ask your individual financial
adviser or visit your financial intermediary's website for more information.
The fund is not sold directly to the general public but instead is offered as
an underlying investment option for variable insurance contracts. In addition
to payments described above, the fund and its related companies may make
payments to the sponsoring insurance company (or its affiliates) for
distribution and/or other services. These payments may be a factor that the
insurance company considers in including the fund as an underlying investment
option in the variable insurance contract. The prospectus (or other offering
document) for your variable insurance contract may contain additional
information about these payments.

INAFIP-430-0512P Litho in USA CGD/8024 Investment Company File No. 811-03857
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE CAPITAL GROUP COMPANIES
American Funds Capital Research and Management Capital International Capital Guardian Capital Bank and Trust

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4 U.S. GOVERNMENT/AAA-RATED SECURITIES FUND / SUMMARY PROSPECTUS AMERICAN FUNDS INSURANCE SERIES
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[LOGO] American Funds/R/ The right choice for the long term(R)

U.S. GOVERNMENT/AAA-
RATED SECURITIES FUND/SM/ American Funds Insurance Series(R)

SUMMARY PROSPECTUS CLASS 2 SHARES MAY 1, 2012

BEFORE YOU INVEST, YOU MAY WANT TO REVIEW THE FUND'S PROSPECTUS AND STATEMENT
OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, WHICH CONTAIN MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE FUND AND
ITS RISKS. YOU CAN FIND THE FUND'S PROSPECTUS, STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION AND OTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE FUND ONLINE AT
WWW.AMERICANFUNDS.COM/AFIS. YOU CAN ALSO GET THIS INFORMATION AT NO COST BY
CALLING 800/421-9900, EXT. 65413 OR BY SENDING AN EMAIL REQUEST TO
AFISCLASS2@AMERICANFUNDS.COM. THE CURRENT PROSPECTUS AND STATEMENT OF
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, DATED MAY 1, 2012, ARE INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE INTO
THIS SUMMARY PROSPECTUS.

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE

The fund's investment objective is to provide a high level of current income
consistent with preservation of capital.

FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE FUND

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold
an interest in Class 2 shares of the fund. It does not reflect insurance
contract fees and expenses. If insurance contract fees and expenses were
reflected, expenses shown would be higher.

ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (EXPENSES THAT YOU PAY EACH YEAR AS A
PERCENTAGE OF THE VALUE OF YOUR INVESTMENT) CLASS 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Management fee......................................................... 0.33%
Distribution and/or service (12b-1) fees............................... 0.25
Other expenses......................................................... 0.01
Total annual fund operating expenses................................... 0.59

EXAMPLE

The example below is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in
Class 2 shares of 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 your shares at the end of the periods. The example
also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund's
operating expenses remain the same. The example does not reflect insurance
contract expenses. If insurance contract expenses were reflected, expenses
shown would be higher. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based
on these assumptions, your costs would be:

1 YEAR 3 YEARS 5 YEARS 10 YEARS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Class 2 $60 $189 $329 $738

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

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AMERICAN FUNDS INSURANCE SERIES U.S. GOVERNMENT/AAA-RATED SECURITIES FUND / SUMMARY PROSPECTUS 1
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PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

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.

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. Securities issued by
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 BONDS -- Rising interest rates will generally cause the prices of
bonds and other debt securities to fall. Longer maturity debt securities may be
subject to greater price fluctuations than shorter maturity debt securities. In
addition, falling interest rates may cause an issuer to redeem, call or
refinance a security before its stated maturity, which may result in the fund
having to reinvest the proceeds in lower yielding securities.

INVESTING IN MORTGAGE-RELATED SECURITIES -- Mortgage-related securities are
subject to prepayment risk, as well as the risks associated with investing in
debt securities in general. If interest rates fall and the loans underlying
these securities are prepaid faster than expected, the fund may have to
reinvest the prepaid principal in lower yielding securities, thus reducing the
fund's income. Conversely, if interest rates increase and the loans underlying
the securities are prepaid more slowly than expected, the expected duration of
the securities may be extended. This reduces the potential for the fund to
invest the principal in higher yielding securities.

INVESTING IN FUTURE DELIVERY CONTRACTS -- Contracts for future delivery of
mortgage-related securities, such as to be announced contracts and mortgage
dollar rolls, involve the fund selling mortgage-related securities and
simultaneously contracting to repurchase similar securities for delivery at a
future date at a predetermined price. This can increase the fund's market
exposure, and the market price of the securities the fund contracts to
repurchase could drop below their purchase price. While the fund can preserve
capital and generate gains through the use of such contracts by, for example,
realizing the difference between the sale price and the future purchase price,
the income generated by the fund may be reduced by engaging in such
transactions. In addition, these transactions may increase the turnover rate of
the fund.

MARKET CONDITIONS -- The prices of, and income generated by, the bonds and
other securities held by the fund may decline due to market conditions and
other factors, including those directly involving the issuers of securities
held by the fund.

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.

----
2 U.S. GOVERNMENT/AAA-RATED SECURITIES FUND / SUMMARY PROSPECTUS AMERICAN FUNDS INSURANCE SERIES
----

<PAGE>

INVESTMENT RESULTS

The following information shows how the investment results of the Class 2
shares of the fund have varied from year to year and how the fund's average
annual total returns for various periods compare with different broad measures
of market performance. This information provides some indication of the risks
of investing in the fund. The Lipper General U.S. Government Funds Average
includes mutual funds that disclose investment objectives and/or strategies
reasonably comparable to those of the fund. The Consumer Price Index provides a
comparison of the fund's results to inflation. Past results are not predictive
of future results. Figures shown reflect fees and expenses associated with an
investment in the fund, but do not reflect insurance contract fees and
expenses. If insurance contract fees and expenses were included, results would
have been lower.

Calendar year total returns.

[CHART]

'02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 '09 '10 '11
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
9.15% 2.28% 3.30% 2.41% 3.75% 6.49% 7.63% 2.50% 5.75% 7.58%

The fund's highest/lowest quarterly results during this time period were:

HIGHEST 5.12% (quarter ended December 31, 2008)
LOWEST -1.73% (quarter ended June 30, 2004)

For periods ended December 31, 2011:

AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS 1 YEAR 5 YEARS 10 YEARS LIFETIME*
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fund 7.58% 5.97% 5.06% 6.56%
Barclays Capital U.S. Government/Mortgage Backed
Securities Index (reflects no deduction for sales charges,
account fees, expenses or taxes) 7.74 6.56 5.64 7.47
Lipper General U.S. Government Funds Average (reflects
no deduction for sales charges, account fees or taxes) 8.44 5.85 4.97 6.35
Consumer Price Index (CPI) 2.96 2.26 2.48 2.83

* Lifetime results are from December 2, 1985, the date the fund began
investment operations. Class 2 shares were first offered on April 30, 1997;
therefore, lifetime results for the fund prior to that date assume a
hypothetical investment in Class 1 shares, reduced by the .25% annual expense
that applies to Class 2 shares and is described in the "Plans of
distribution" section of this prospectus. Results for Class 1 shares are
comparable to those of Class 2 shares because both classes invest in the same
portfolio of securities.

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AMERICAN FUNDS INSURANCE SERIES U.S. GOVERNMENT/AAA-RATED SECURITIES FUND / SUMMARY PROSPECTUS 3
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<PAGE>

MANAGEMENT

INVESTMENT ADVISER

Capital Research and Management Company

PORTFOLIO COUNSELORS

The individuals primarily responsible for the portfolio management of the fund
are:

TAX INFORMATION

See your variable insurance contract prospectus for information regarding the
federal income tax treatment of the contracts and distributions to the separate
accounts.

PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES

INAFIP-530-0512P Litho in USA CGD/8024 Investment Company File No. 811-03857
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE CAPITAL GROUP COMPANIES
American Funds Capital Research and Management Capital International Capital Guardian Capital Bank and Trust

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4 U.S. GOVERNMENT/AAA-RATED SECURITIES FUND / SUMMARY PROSPECTUS AMERICAN FUNDS INSURANCE SERIES
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