Fund Evaluator:

American Century Government Bond I Overview

American Century Government Bond I (ABHTX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Intermediate Government fund. American Century Investments launched the fund in 2017.

The investment seeks high current income. Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in U.S. government debt securities, including U.S. Treasury securities and other securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government and its agencies and instrumentalities.

About American Century Government Bond I (ABHTX)

There are 5 members of the management team with an average tenure of 6.29 years: James Platz (2007), Michael Waggaman (2022), Paul Norris (2023), Stephen Bartolini (2024), Curtis Manning (2022). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Bloomberg US Agg Bond TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Bloomberg US Govt/Mortgage TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. American Century Government Bond I has 152 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 28.0% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

American Century Government Bond I is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. American Century Government Bond I has 0.0% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.0%. There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 96.1% (96.1% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). American Century Government Bond I has 3.9% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $91 million in total assets, which is below the $942 million average for the Intermediate Government category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

ABHTX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The American Century Government Bond I expense ratio is below average compared to funds in the Intermediate Government category. American Century Government Bond I has an expense ratio of 0.37%, which is 39% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a B. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. American Century Government Bond I has a portfolio turnover rate of 218%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 99% for the Intermediate Government category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, American Century Government Bond I returned -1.3%, which earned it a grade of C, as the Intermediate Government category had an average return of -1.2%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

American Century Government Bond I has a trailing yield of 4.18%, which is above the 3.55% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

American Century Government Bond I Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned -0.8%, 0.3 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of B. The fund has returned 2.7% over the past year (grade of A), 3.2% over the past three years (grade of C) and -0.8% per year over the past five years (grade of C) and 0.8% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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