By Zach Scheidt
This post Big Bank Payday appeared first on Daily Reckoning.
For years, the Federal Reserve has been the bitter enemy of U.S. savers.
After all, the Fed’s zero interest rate policy (and minuscule recent rate increases) have led to paltry returns on savings accounts, withering pension plan balances, and hardship for retirees.
But this week, the Fed made a completely unexpected decision… One that was largely overlooked by the media… And this decision gives savers like you and me a chance to boost income payments by 60% or more!
Let’s dig in to this overlooked Fed decision so you can claim your share of this income…
Banks Pass Fed’s Stress Tests, Gear Up For Bigger Payments
This week, the Federal Reserve announced that all 34 banks passed the Fed’s annual stress test. That’s big news considering it is the first time all participants have received passing marks since the Fed first started administering the tests in 2011.1
A passing grade simply means that banks have enough capital to weather a financial storm. For instance, one of the scenarios the Fed uses is a recession in which real estate markets have severe challenges, corporate loans default and the unemployment rate reaches 10%.
On the surface, it’s encouraging to see that U.S. banks have finally made enough responsible decisions to be able to withstand a challenging market environment.
But strong banks by themselves aren’t going to do you and me a bit of good. Because after all, savings accounts are still paying paltry rates of return.
Fortunately, there was a second part to these stress tests that caught my eye. One that will lead to bigger income payments, and much higher investment returns…
And these returns tie back to the Fed’s stress tests and the capital these banks have set aside.
You see, part of the stress test process includes bank requests to pay capital back to shareholders. Essentially, the banks tell the Fed how much they would like to spend on dividends and share buybacks, and the Fed gives them a green light — or a red light — to follow through on the plans.
This year, all 34 banks also received a green light to increase payments to shareholders. And we’re not talking about a small increase either.
According to the Fed’s statement, U.S. banks now have approval to pay as much as 100% of this year’s earnings back to shareholders. That’s up from a 65% level approved last year.2
Banks will return this capital to shareholders using one of two methods (or both):
Banks can increase dividends paid directly to shareholders
Banks can also buy back shares of their own stock.
Both of these types of payments work to our favor.
If you own shares of a bank and the dividend increases, that means you’ll get a bigger payment every quarter. And if you’re enrolled in a Dividend Reinvestment Plan (or DRIP), the bigger payments will help you buy more shares of your bank stocks.
As the power of compound interest kicks in (earning ever-growing payments on more shares of stock), your account will grow …read more
Source:: Daily Reckoning feed
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