497K 1 e474271_497k.htm 497K


John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund


 Summary prospectus    8/30/17

Before you invest, you may want to review the fund's prospectus, which contains more information about the fund and its risks. You can find the fund's prospectus and other information about the fund, including the Statement of Additional Information and most recent reports, online at jhinvestments.com/Forms/Prospectuses.aspx. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 888-972-8696 or by sending an email request to info@jhinvestments.com. The fund's prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, both dated 8/24/17, and most recent financial highlights information included in the shareholder report, dated 5/31/17, are incorporated by reference into this summary prospectus.

TICKERS

R6: JCSRX

Investment objective

To seek a high level of current income, consistent with preservation of capital, that is exempt from federal and California personal income taxes.

Fees and expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund.

Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

R6

Maximum front-end sales charge (load)

None

Maximum deferred sales charge (load)

None

 

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

R6

Management fee

0.55

Other expenses‌1

0.11

Total annual fund operating expenses

0.66

1 "Other expenses," such as expected transfer agency expenses, have been estimated for the first year of operations of the fund's Class R6 shares.

Expense example

This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. Please see below a hypothetical example showing the expenses of a $10,000 investment for the time periods indicated, and then assuming you sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example assumes a 5% average annual return and that fund expenses will not change over the periods. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:

Expenses ($)

R6

1 year

67

3 years

211

5 years

368

10 years

822

Portfolio turnover

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 performance. During its most recent fiscal year, the fund's portfolio turnover rate was 17% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal investment strategies

Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus amounts borrowed for investment purposes, in securities of any maturity exempt from federal and California personal income taxes. Most of these securities are investment-grade when purchased, but the fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in junk bonds rated BB by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services (S&P) or Fitch Ratings, Inc. (Fitch) or Ba by Moody's Investors Service, Inc. (Moody's), or their unrated equivalents. The fund's investment policies are based on credit ratings at the time of purchase.


 

John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund

The fund may buy bonds of any maturity. The fund is non-diversified and may invest more than 5% of its net assets in securities of any given issuer. The fund may engage in derivative transactions. Derivatives may be used to reduce risk and/or enhance investment returns, and may include futures contracts on debt securities and debt securities indexes; options on futures, debt securities, and debt indexes; and inverse floating-rate securities.

The manager looks for undervalued bonds, based on both broad and security-specific factors, such as issuer creditworthiness, bond structure, and general credit trends, and uses detailed analysis of an appropriate index to model portfolio performance and composition. The fund does not intend to engage in frequent trading.

In general, the manager favors bonds backed by revenue from a specific public project or facility, such as a power plant (revenue bonds), as they tend to offer higher yields than general obligation bonds. The manager also favors bonds that have limitations on early payoff (call protection), which can help minimize the potential effect of falling interest rates on the fund's yield. To the extent that the fund invests in bonds that are subject to the alternative minimum tax (AMT), the income paid by the fund may not be entirely tax-free to all investors. Investments in bonds subject to the AMT will not be counted toward the fund's 80% investment policy.

Principal risks

An investment in the fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. Many factors affect performance, and fund shares will fluctuate in price, meaning you could lose money. The fund's investment strategy may not produce the intended results.

During periods of heightened market volatility or reduced liquidity, governments, their agencies, or other regulatory bodies, both within the United States and abroad, may take steps to intervene. These actions, which could include legislative, regulatory, or economic initiatives, might have unforeseeable consequences and could adversely affect the fund's performance or otherwise constrain the fund's ability to achieve its investment objective.

The fund's main risks are listed below in alphabetical order. Before investing, be sure to read the additional descriptions of these risks beginning on page 5 of the prospectus.

Changing distribution levels risk. The fund may cease or reduce the level of its distribution if income or dividends paid from its investments declines.

Credit and counterparty risk. The issuer or guarantor of a fixed-income security, the counterparty to an over-the-counter derivatives contract, or a borrower of fund securities may not make timely payments or otherwise honor its obligations. U.S. government securities are subject to varying degrees of credit risk depending upon the nature of their support. A downgrade or default affecting any of the fund's securities could affect the fund's performance.

Cybersecurity risk. Cybersecurity breaches may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to fund assets, customer data, or proprietary information, or cause a fund or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality. Similar incidents affecting issuers of a fund's securities may negatively impact performance.

Economic and market events risk. Events in the U.S. and global financial markets, including actions taken by the U.S. Federal Reserve or foreign central banks to stimulate or stabilize economic growth, may at times result in unusually high market volatility, which could negatively impact performance. Reduced liquidity in credit and fixed-income markets could adversely affect issuers worldwide. Banks and financial services companies could suffer losses if interest rates rise or economic conditions deteriorate.

Fixed-income securities risk. A rise in interest rates typically causes bond prices to fall. The longer the average maturity or duration of the bonds held by a fund, the more sensitive it will likely be to interest-rate fluctuations. An issuer may not make all interest payments or repay all or any of the principal borrowed. Changes in a security's credit quality may adversely affect fund performance.

Hedging, derivatives, and other strategic transactions risk. Hedging, derivatives, and other strategic transactions may increase a fund's volatility and could produce disproportionate losses, potentially more than the fund's principal investment. Risks of these transactions are different from and possibly greater than risks of investing directly in securities and other traditional instruments. Under certain market conditions, derivatives could become harder to value or sell and may become subject to liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions). Derivatives and other strategic transactions that the fund intends to utilize, along with specific additional associated risks, if any, include: futures contracts; inverse floating-rate securities; and options. Futures contracts and options generally are subject to counterparty risk.

Liquidity risk. The extent (if at all) to which a security may be sold or a derivative position closed without negatively impacting its market value may be impaired by reduced market activity or participation, legal restrictions, or other economic and market impediments. Liquidity risk may be magnified in rising interest rate environments due to higher than normal redemption rates. Widespread selling of fixed-income securities to satisfy redemptions during periods of reduced demand may adversely impact their price or salability. The secondary market for certain tax-exempt securities tends to be less well-developed or liquid than many other securities markets, which may result in increased volatility or liquidity risk.

Lower-rated and high-yield fixed-income securities risk. Lower-rated and high-yield fixed-income securities (junk bonds) are subject to greater credit quality risk, risk of default, and price volatility than higher-rated fixed-income securities, may be considered speculative, and can be difficult to resell.

Municipal bond risk. Municipal bond prices can decline if the issuer's credit quality declines. Revenue bond prices can decline if related projects become unprofitable. An insured municipal bond is subject to the risk that the insurer may be unable to pay claims and is not insured with respect to the market value of the obligation. Municipal bond income could become taxable in the future.


 

John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund

Non-diversified risk. Adverse events affecting a particular issuer or group of issuers may magnify losses for non-diversified funds, which may invest a large portion of assets in any one issuer or a small number of issuers.

Sector risk. When a fund focuses its investments in certain sectors of the economy, its performance may be driven largely by sector performance and could fluctuate more widely than if the fund were invested more evenly across sectors.

State/region risk. Investing heavily in any one state or region increases exposure to losses in that state or region. This risk is magnified for a fund that invests mainly in bonds from a single state. Factors that may affect performance include economic or political changes, tax base erosion, state constitutional limits on tax increases, budget deficits and other financial difficulties, and changes in credit ratings. Historically, California has been more economically volatile than the United States as a whole. Puerto Rican municipal obligations, in which the fund may invest, may be subject to further devaluation due to adverse political, economic, and market conditions.

PAST PERFORMANCE

The following information illustrates the variability of the fund's returns and provides some indication of the risks of investing in the fund by showing changes in the fund's performance from year to year compared with a broad-based market index. Past performance (before and after taxes) does not indicate future results. All figures assume dividend reinvestment. Performance for the fund is updated daily, monthly, and quarterly, and may be obtained at our website, jhinvestments.com, or by calling 888-972-8696 between 8:30 A.M. and 5:00 P.M., Eastern time, on most business days.

A note on performance

Class A shares commenced operations on December 29, 1989. Because Class R6 shares of the fund had not commenced operations as of the date of this prospectus, the returns shown are those of Class A shares, except that they do not include sales charges and would be lower if they did. Returns for Class R6 shares would have been substantially similar to returns of Class A shares because both share classes are invested in the same portfolio of securities and returns would differ only to the extent that expenses of the classes are different.

Please note that after-tax returns reflect the highest individual federal marginal income-tax rate in effect as of the date provided and do not reflect any state or local taxes. Your actual after-tax returns may be different. After-tax returns are not relevant to shares held in an IRA, 401(k), or other tax-advantaged investment plan.

Calendar year total returns—Class R6 (%)



Year-to-date total return. The fund's total return for the six months ended June 30, 2017, was 3.72%.
Best quarter:   Q3 '09, 11.25%
Worst quarter:   Q4 '08, –7.20%

Average annual total returns (%)—as of 12/31/16

1 year

5 year

10 year

Class R6 (before tax)

–0.01

4.18

4.13

after tax on distributions

–1.51

2.78

3.42

after tax on distributions, with sale

0.02

2.77

3.46

Bloomberg Barclays Municipal Bond Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)

0.25

3.28

4.25

Bloomberg Barclays California Municipal Bond Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)

–0.13

3.85

4.44

Investment management

Investment advisor John Hancock Advisers, LLC
Subadvisor John Hancock Asset Management a division of Manulife Asset Management (US) LLC

Portfolio management

Cynthia M. Brown
Managing Director and Portfolio Manager
Managed the fund since 2015


 

John Hancock California Tax-Free Income Fund

Purchase and sale of fund shares

The minimum initial investment requirement for Class R6 shares is $1 million, except that there is no minimum for: qualified and nonqualified plan investors that do not require the fund or its affiliates to pay any type of administrative payment; Trustees; employees of the advisor or its affiliates; or members of the fund's portfolio management team. There are no subsequent minimum investment requirements for Class R6 shares.

Shares may be redeemed on any business day by mail: John Hancock Signature Services, Inc., P.O. Box 55913, Boston, Massachusetts 02205-5913; or for most account types through our website: jhinvestments.com; or by telephone: 888-972-8696.

Taxes

The fund intends to distribute tax-exempt income. The fund intends to meet certain federal tax requirements so that distributions of the tax-exempt interest it earns may be treated as "exempt-interest dividends." A portion of the fund's exempt-interest dividends is also expected to be exempt from California personal income taxation when received by individual shareholders of the fund who are subject to California personal income taxation. A portion of the fund's distributions may, however, be subject to federal income tax.

 

© 2017 JOHN HANCOCK FUNDS, LLC 530R6SP 8/30/17 SEC file number: 811-05979