The fund seeks to provide current income exempt from federal and California income taxes while preserving your investment.

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 to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.

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 or hold 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.

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 36% of the average value of its portfolio.

The fund seeks to achieve its objective by primarily investing in municipal bonds issued by the state of California and its agencies and municipalities. Consistent with the fund’s objective, the fund may also invest in municipal securities that are issued by jurisdictions outside California.

The fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in bonds (for purposes of this limit, bonds include any debt instrument and cash equivalents, and may include certain preferred securities). 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 federal and California income taxes. The fund will not invest in securities that subject you to the federal alternative minimum tax. The investment adviser will seek to manage the fund in order to minimize capital gain distributions.

The fund invests primarily in municipal bonds with quality ratings of A- or A3 or better by Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (“NRSROs”) 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 in the rating categories of BBB or Baa by NRSROs designated by the fund’s investment adviser or unrated but determined by the fund’s investment adviser to be of equivalent quality. Under normal circumstances, the dollar-weighted average effective maturity of the fund’s portfolio will be between one and 10 years. In calculating the effective maturity or average life of a particular debt security, a put, call, sinking fund or other feature will be considered to the extent it results in a security whose market characteristics indicate an effective maturity or average life that is shorter than its nominal or stated maturity. The investment adviser will consider the impact on effective maturity of potential changes in the financial condition of issuers and in market interest rates in making investment selections for the fund.

The fund may invest in municipal obligations of multiple issuers in the same state or backed by revenues of similar types of projects or industries. The fund may also invest more than 25% of its assets in industrial development bonds.

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 investment opportunities. Securities may be sold when the investment adviser believes that they no longer represent relatively attractive investment opportunities.

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, if applicable, other measures of market results that reflect the fund’s investment universe. This information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the fund. 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 calling the fund’s transfer agent at (800) 421-4996.

Highest/Lowest quarterly results during this period were:

Highest  5.06% (quarter ended December 31, 2023)

Lowest  -3.87% (quarter ended March 31, 2022)

The fund's total return for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, was 3.72%.