American Funds Short-Term Tax Exempt Bond Fund (Prospectus Summary) | 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 its maturity and quality
standards described in the 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. 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 and in the "Sales charge reductions and waivers" section
on page 48 of the prospectus and on page 70 of the fund's statement of
additional information.

Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees American Funds Short-Term Tax Exempt Bond Fund	Class A		Class F-1	Class F-2
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	2.50%		none	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load) (as a percentage of the amount redeemed)	1.00%	[1]	none	none
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on reinvested dividends	none		none	none
Redemption or exchange fees	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 Funds Short-Term Tax Exempt Bond Fund	Class A	Class F-1	Class F-2
Management fees	0.38%	0.38%	0.38%
Distribution and/or service (12b-1) fees	0.15%	0.25%	none
Other expenses	0.06%	0.15%	0.14%
Total annual fund operating expenses	0.59%	0.78%	0.52%

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.

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

Expense Example American Funds Short-Term Tax Exempt Bond Fund (USD $)	Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year	Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years	Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years	Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years
Class A	309	434	571	969
Class F-1	80	249	433	966
Class F-2	53	167	291	653

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 14% 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 municipal bonds 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 municipal bonds 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 maturity no greater than three years.

In addition, the fund may invest significantly in municipal obligations of
issuers in the same state, or engaged in the same types of projects or
industries.

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 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 due to market conditions and other factors,
including those directly involving the issuers of securities held by the fund.

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.

Thinly traded securities -- There may be little trading in the secondary market
for particular bonds or other debt securities, which may make them more
difficult to value, acquire or sell.

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 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 different broad 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 the fund's objective and/or strategies. 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 different broad measures of market
results.

Calender 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 returns during this period were:

Highest  1.29% (quarter ended September 30, 2010)

Lowest  -0.76% (quarter ended December 31, 2010)

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.

Average annual total returns For the periods ended December 31, 2011 (with maximum sales charge):

Average Annual Total Returns American Funds Short-Term Tax Exempt Bond Fund	Label	1 Year	5 Years	10 Years	Since Inception	Inception Date
Class A	Share class A - Before taxes	0.05%	1.42%	1.40%		Oct. 24, 1989
Class A After Taxes on Distributions	Share class A - After taxes on distributions	0.05%	1.42%	1.40%		Oct. 24, 1989
Class A After Taxes on Distributions and Sales	Share class A - After taxes on distributions and sale of fund shares	0.45%	1.42%	1.40%		Oct. 24, 1989
Class F-1	Share class F-1 - Before taxes	2.43%			2.13%	Aug. 27, 2009
Class F-2	Share class F-2 - Before taxes	2.68%			2.33%	Aug. 12, 2009
Barclays Municipal Short 1-5 Years Index	Barclays Municipal Short 1-5 Years Index (reflects no deductions for sales charges, account fees, expenses or taxes)	3.45%	4.22%
Lipper Short Municipal Debt Funds Average	Lipper Short Municipal Debt Funds Average (reflects no deductions for sales charges, account fees or taxes)	2.40%	2.52%	2.50%

Class A annualized 30-day yield at July 31, 2012: 0.36%
(For current yield information, please call American   
FundsLine® at 800/325-3590.)

[1] 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.