497

Prospectus Supplement	February 28, 2017
George Putnam Balanced Fund
Prospectus dated November 30, 2016

Effective April 1, 2017, purchases of class B shares will be closed to new and existing investors except by exchange from class B shares of another Putnam fund or through dividend and/or capital gains reinvestment.

The prospectus is supplemented as follows to add information about class T shares. Class T shares of the fund are not currently available for purchase.

The front cover page is supplemented to add class T shares to the list of shares to which the prospectus relates, and to indicate that the fund symbol for class T shares is pending.

The following information replaces similar disclosure for the fund under Fees and expenses:

The following table describes the fees and expenses 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 $50,000 in Putnam funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial advisor and in How do I buy fund shares? beginning on page 14 of the fund’s prospectus, in the Appendix to the fund’s prospectus, and in How to buy shares beginning on page II-1 of the fund’s statement of additional information (SAI).

The following information is added to similar disclosure for the fund under Fees and expenses:

Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
	Maximum sales charge (load)	Maximum deferred sales charge (load) (as a percentage
	imposed on purchases (as a	of original purchase price or redemption proceeds,
Share class	percentage of offering price)	whichever is lower)
Class T	2.50%	NONE

Annual fund operating expenses
(expenses you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
		Distribution and		Total annual fund
Share class	Management fees	service (12b-1) fees	Other expenses	operating expenses
Class T	0.52%	0.25%	0.25%<	1.02%

< Other expenses are based on expenses of class A shares for the fund’s last fiscal year.

Example

The following hypothetical example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other funds. It assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then, except as indicated, redeem all your shares at the end of those periods. It assumes a 5% return on your investment each year and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Your actual costs may be higher or lower.

Share class	1 year	3 years	5 years	10 years
Class T	$351	$567	$799	$1,467

XML

George Putnam Balanced Fund Supplement

Total

RiskReturn

Supplement Text

Prospectus Supplement	February 28, 2017
George Putnam Balanced Fund
Prospectus dated November 30, 2016

Effective April 1, 2017, purchases of class B shares will be closed to new and existing investors except by exchange from class B shares of another Putnam fund or through dividend and/or capital gains reinvestment.

The prospectus is supplemented as follows to add information about class T shares. Class T shares of the fund are not currently available for purchase.

The front cover page is supplemented to add class T shares to the list of shares to which the prospectus relates, and to indicate that the fund symbol for class T shares is pending.

The following information replaces similar disclosure for the fund under Fees and expenses:

The following table describes the fees and expenses 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 $50,000 in Putnam funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial advisor and in How do I buy fund shares? beginning on page 14 of the fund’s prospectus, in the Appendix to the fund’s prospectus, and in How to buy shares beginning on page II-1 of the fund’s statement of additional information (SAI).

The following information is added to similar disclosure for the fund under Fees and expenses:

Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
	Maximum sales charge (load)	Maximum deferred sales charge (load) (as a percentage
	imposed on purchases (as a	of original purchase price or redemption proceeds,
Share class	percentage of offering price)	whichever is lower)
Class T	2.50%	NONE

Annual fund operating expenses
(expenses you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
		Distribution and		Total annual fund
Share class	Management fees	service (12b-1) fees	Other expenses	operating expenses
Class T	0.52%	0.25%	0.25%<	1.02%

< Other expenses are based on expenses of class A shares for the fund’s last fiscal year.

Example

The following hypothetical example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other funds. It assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then, except as indicated, redeem all your shares at the end of those periods. It assumes a 5% return on your investment each year and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Your actual costs may be higher or lower.

Share class	1 year	3 years	5 years	10 years
Class T	$351	$567	$799	$1,467

XML

George Putnam Balanced Fund

Fees and expenses

The following table describes the fees and expenses 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 $50,000 in Putnam funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial advisor and in How do I buy fund shares? beginning on page 14 of the fund’s prospectus, in the Appendix to the fund’s prospectus, and in How to buy shares beginning on page II-1 of the fund’s statement of additional information (SAI)

Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees	George Putnam Balanced Fund Class T
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	2.50%
Maximum deferred sales charge (load) (as a percentage of original purchase price or redemption proceeds, whichever is lower)	none

Annual fund operating expenses (expenses you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses	George Putnam Balanced Fund Class T
Management fees	0.52%
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees	0.25%
Other expenses	0.25%	[1]
Total annual fund operating expenses	1.02%

Example

The following hypothetical example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other funds. It assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then, except as indicated, redeem all your shares at the end of those periods. It assumes a 5% return on your investment each year and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Your actual costs may be higher or lower.

Expense Example	Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year	Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years	Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years	Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years
George Putnam Balanced Fund | Class T | USD ($)	351	567	799	1,467

[1] Other expenses are based on expenses of class A shares for the fund's last fiscal year.

XML

Label

Element

Value

RiskReturn

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Document Type

dei_DocumentType

497

Document Period End Date

dei_DocumentPeriodEndDate

Feb. 28, 2017

Registrant Name

dei_EntityRegistrantName

GEORGE PUTNAM BALANCED FUND

Central Index Key

dei_EntityCentralIndexKey

0000081259

Amendment Flag

dei_AmendmentFlag

false

Trading Symbol

dei_TradingSymbol

PGEOX

Document Creation Date

dei_DocumentCreationDate

Feb. 28, 2017

Document Effective Date

dei_DocumentEffectiveDate

Apr. 01, 2017

Prospectus Date

rr_ProspectusDate

Nov. 30, 2016

George Putnam Balanced Fund

RiskReturn

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Expense [Heading]

rr_ExpenseHeading

Fees and expenses

Expense Narrative [Text Block]

rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock

The following table describes the fees and expenses 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 $50,000 in Putnam funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial advisor and in How do I buy fund shares? beginning on page 14 of the fund’s prospectus, in the Appendix to the fund’s prospectus, and in How to buy shares beginning on page II-1 of the fund’s statement of additional information (SAI)

Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]

rr_ShareholderFeesCaption

Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Operating Expenses Caption [Text]

rr_OperatingExpensesCaption

Annual fund operating expenses (expenses you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Expense Breakpoint Discounts [Text]

rr_ExpenseBreakpointDiscounts

You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Putnam funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial advisor and in How do I buy fund shares? beginning on page 14 of the fund’s prospectus, in the Appendix to the fund’s prospectus, and in How to buy shares beginning on page II-1 of the fund’s statement of additional information (SAI)

Expense Breakpoint, Minimum Investment Required [Amount]

rr_ExpenseBreakpointMinimumInvestmentRequiredAmount

$ 50,000

Expense Example [Heading]

rr_ExpenseExampleHeading

Example

Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]

rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock

The following hypothetical example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other funds. It assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then, except as indicated, redeem all your shares at the end of those periods. It assumes a 5% return on your investment each year and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Your actual costs may be higher or lower.

George Putnam Balanced Fund | Class T

RiskReturn

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)

rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice

2.50%

Maximum deferred sales charge (load) (as a percentage of original purchase price or redemption proceeds, whichever is lower)

rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther

none

Management fees

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

0.52%

Distribution and service (12b-1) fees

rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets

0.25%

Other expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.25%

^[1]

Total annual fund operating expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

1.02%

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

rr_ExpenseExampleYear01

$ 351

Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear03

567

Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear05

799

Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear10

$ 1,467

[1] Other expenses are based on expenses of class A shares for the fund's last fiscal year.