Fund Evaluator:

American Century Inflation Adjs Bond Y Overview

American Century Inflation Adjs Bond Y (AIAYX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Inflation-Protected Bond fund. American Century Investments launched the fund in 2017.

The investment seeks total return and inflation protection consistent with investment in inflation-indexed securities. Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in inflation-adjusted bonds. It also may invest in derivative instruments such as futures contracts and swap agreements (including, but not limited to, inflation swap agreements and credit default swap agreements), bank loans, securities backed by mortgages or other assets and collateralized debt obligations. The fund may invest in U.S. Treasury futures, inflation swap agreements and credit default swap agreements to manage duration, inflation and credit exposure.

About American Century Inflation Adjs Bond Y (AIAYX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 10.98 years: James Platz (2007), Miguel Castillo (2014), Stephen Bartolini (2024). 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 Treasury US TIPS TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. American Century Inflation Adjs Bond Y has 192 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 41.1% 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 Inflation Adjs Bond Y is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. American Century Inflation Adjs Bond Y has 2.6% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is -0.4%. There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.4% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 96.7% (94.1% domestic bond, 2.6% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). American Century Inflation Adjs Bond Y has 3.3% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $86 million in total assets, which is below the $872 million average for the Inflation-Protected Bond 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.

AIAYX 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 Inflation Adjs Bond Y expense ratio is below average compared to funds in the Inflation-Protected Bond category. American Century Inflation Adjs Bond Y has an expense ratio of 0.34%, which is 54% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a A. 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 Inflation Adjs Bond Y has a portfolio turnover rate of 44%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 74% for the Inflation-Protected Bond category.

Recently, in the month of June 2026, American Century Inflation Adjs Bond Y returned -0.6%, which earned it a grade of C, as the Inflation-Protected Bond category had an average return of -0.6%. 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 Inflation Adjs Bond Y has a trailing yield of 4.10%, which is above the 4.07% category average. The fund normally distributes its income quarterly.

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 Inflation Adjs Bond Y Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 1.3%, 0.3 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of A. The fund has returned 3.3% over the past year (grade of B), 3.9% over the past three years (grade of C) and 0.9% per year over the past five years (grade of B) and 2.4% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

For more mutual fund grades, analysis and screening tools to help your investment discovery, join AAII for a $2, full-access trial. Learn more here: https://invest.aaii.com/membership.

Otherwise, for more information about American Century Inflation Adjs Bond Y, including its riskiness, submit your email to unlock the rest of the article.