American City Investments: A Mutual Fund Option?

American Century Investments is an investment management firm founded in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1958. The company offers a range of investment products, including mutual funds, ETFs, and separately managed accounts. With a team-based approach, American Century Investments seeks to align its interests with shareholders by having managers invest in their own funds. The firm's funds cover various asset classes, market capitalizations, and investment styles, including equity and fixed income strategies. While I cannot find a direct reference to American City Investments, American Century Investments has offices in several cities, including New York, London, Hong Kong, and Sydney, indicating a diverse geographic presence.

American Century Investments: history and current status

American Century Investments is an independent investment management firm that was founded in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1958 by James E. Stowers Jr. The company was originally called "Twentieth Century Mutual Funds", a family of no-load funds, and started with just $100,000 in assets from 24 shareholders. Stowers built his business by concentrating on small investors.

The company changed its name to American Century Investments in 1997 and has since grown to employ around 1,300 to 1,400 people. Its headquarters remain in Kansas City, Missouri, and it has additional offices in New York, London, Hong Kong, and Sydney.

American Century Investments takes a team-based approach, with managers and analysts working together closely and often having long tenures. The firm's actively managed funds cover a range of asset classes, market capitalizations, and investment styles. The firm uses fundamental and quantitative analysis in its stock selection process, with a particular emphasis on risk management. Managers typically invest in their own funds, aligning the firm's interests with those of shareholders.

The firm's equity fund strategies include U.S. growth, U.S. value, non-U.S., and quantitative. They also manage fixed-income and target-date funds. In 2015, they launched a line of liquid alternative funds, categorizing their existing Equity Market Neutral Fund under this banner.

American Century Investments is privately controlled, with the Stowers Institute for Medical Research holding the controlling majority stake. The institute, a world-class biomedical research organization dedicated to defeating life-threatening diseases, receives a significant portion of the company's profits. Between 2000 and 2019, the Stowers Institute received over $1.1 billion in dividends from American Century Investments.

American Mutual Fund: investment options and objectives

American Mutual Fund® (AMRMX) is a mutual fund designed for conservative growth and income investing. The fund primarily invests in common stocks, securities convertible into common stocks, and well-established companies with strong balance sheets and a history of consistently paying dividends. This helps to provide downside resilience during market declines.

The fund strives for the balanced accomplishment of three objectives: current income, growth of capital, and conservation of principal. It is conservatively managed to reduce volatility and risk. As of September 30, 2024, the fund had $105,265.9 million in assets.

The types of investments made by the fund include common stocks and securities convertible into common stocks. The fund may invest up to 20% of its assets in securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States and not included in the S&P 500 Composite Index. Additionally, it can invest up to 5% of its assets in securities of issuers domiciled outside the United States and Canada, also not included in the S&P 500 Composite Index.

As of September 30, 2024, the fund's top sectors were information technology (18.7%) and consumer staples (6.5%). The consumer discretionary and communication services sectors each made up around 4% of the fund's net assets.

The fund's investment portfolio includes well-known companies such as General Electric and Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). As of April 30, 2023, General Electric accounted for 3.8% of the fund's equity holdings, while Meta Platforms accounted for 2.4%.

American Mutual Fund® offers a combination of growth and income to investors, focusing on future income over high current yield. The fund is managed by a team of experienced professionals, including James Lovelace, who has been with the fund for nearly three decades.

American Century Investments: equity fund strategies

American Century Investments is an independent, privately controlled investment management firm. It was founded in 1958 by James E. Stowers Jr. in Kansas City, Missouri, as "Twentieth Century Mutual Funds", a family of no-load funds. The company changed its name to American Century Investments in 1997.

American Century Investments takes a team-based approach, with managers and analysts working together closely and often having long tenures. The firm's actively managed funds comprise a range of asset classes, market capitalizations, and investment styles. The firm uses fundamental and quantitative analysis in its stock selection process, with an emphasis on risk management. Managers typically invest in their own funds, aligning the firm's interests with shareholders.

American Century Investments offers a variety of equity fund strategies, including U.S. growth, U.S. value, non-U.S., and quantitative. These strategies are designed to meet the needs of investors with different financial goals and risk tolerances. Here is a more detailed look at each strategy:

• U.S. Growth: This strategy focuses on investing in U.S.-based companies with strong growth potential. These companies typically have a history of strong financial performance and are expected to continue delivering high levels of growth in the future.
• U.S. Value: The U.S. value strategy involves investing in undervalued companies trading at prices below their intrinsic value. The fund managers identify companies that are temporarily out of favour in the market but have strong fundamentals and the potential for future growth.
• Non-U.S.: This strategy involves investing in companies based outside of the United States. It provides investors with international diversification and exposure to global economic trends.
• Quantitative: The quantitative strategy uses mathematical and statistical models to identify investment opportunities. This approach involves analysing large sets of data to make informed investment decisions, focusing on factors such as market trends, company financials, and risk metrics.

In addition to these core equity fund strategies, American Century Investments also offers other types of funds, including fixed-income and target-date funds. The firm continues to innovate, as evidenced by its launch of a line of liquid alternative funds in 2015.

American Century Investments: fixed income and target date funds

American Century Investments is a privately controlled and independent investment management firm. Founded in 1958 by James E. Stowers Jr. in Kansas City, Missouri, it was initially called Twentieth Century Mutual Funds. The company changed its name to American Century Investments in 1997.

American Century Investments offers a range of investment products, including fixed-income funds and target-date funds.

Fixed-Income Funds

American Century's fixed-income funds focus on pursuing conviction-driven outperformance. They aim to achieve consistently strong risk-adjusted results through a diverse set of active positions that seek to exploit inherent inefficiencies in the bond market. The company's investment philosophy combines fundamental research with quantitative methodologies to identify consistent excess returns over a full market cycle.

American Century's fixed-income portfolios cater to various investor needs, including income, diversification, inflation hedging, and tax-managed solutions. They invest in individually researched bonds, emphasising risk management while seeking high-conviction opportunities. The portfolios are constructed bond-by-bond through in-depth proprietary research to avoid the risks associated with indexed strategies.

Target Date Funds

American Century's target-date funds, known as One Choice® Target Date Portfolios, are designed to adjust automatically as investors' target goal dates approach. These diversified funds offer instant broad diversification and professional active management. Each fund seeks the highest total return consistent with the company's proprietary asset mix, which becomes more conservative over time.

The asset mix and weightings in the target-date funds are adjusted gradually, known as a "glide path." As the target year approaches, the portfolio's allocation decreases its allocation to stocks and increases its allocation to bonds and cash equivalents. By the time each fund reaches its target year, its asset mix becomes fixed, matching that of the One Choice In Retirement Portfolio.

American Funds: Capital Group's investment process

American Funds, a subsidiary of Capital Group, offers a range of investment options to help investors meet their financial needs and pursue long-term investment success. The company has been in business for over 90 years and manages over $2.7 trillion in assets.

The investment process of Capital Group combines individual accountability with teamwork. Their funds offer a spectrum of investment objectives, levels of volatility, and asset types. The Capital System is a key aspect of their investment approach, but the website does not provide further details on this.

American Funds provides various mutual funds, including growth-and-income funds, tax-exempt bond funds, and funds that seek income and growth through a mix of dividend-paying stocks and bonds. The American Mutual Fund (AMRMX), for example, strives for a balance between current income, growth of capital, and conservation of principal. It is conservatively managed to reduce volatility and risk and primarily invests in well-established companies with strong balance sheets.

Other notable funds include the EuroPacific Growth Fund, The New Economy Fund, New Perspective Fund, and The Growth Fund of America. The funds invest across different sectors, including information technology, consumer staples, consumer discretionary, and communication services.

It is important to note that the information provided by Capital Group should not be used as the primary basis for investment decisions and is not intended to serve as impartial investment or fiduciary advice. Investors should carefully consider investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before making any investment choices.

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