Offset your interest charges with dividends

Article Excerpt

The Bank of Canada just raised its benchmark interest rate to 0.50%. That will increase the borrowing costs for businesses and consumers. However, you can offset those higher interest charges with dividends from our big banks, which are once again raising their payments as the COVID-19 pandemic eases. BANK OF MONTREAL $148 is a buy. The bank (Toronto symbol BMO; Income-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 648.4 million; Market cap: $96.0 billion; Dividend yield: 3.6%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.bmo.com) last raised your quarterly dividend with the February 2022 payment. Investors now receive $1.33 a share, up 25.0% from $1.06. The new annual rate of $5.32 yields 3.6%. Bank of Montreal recently agreed to buy California-based Bank of the West from France’s BNP Paribas for $16.3 billion U.S. Bank of the West has 514 branches in 24 states across the Midwest and Western part of the U.S. It has total assets of $105 billion and $89 billion in customer deposits. The new operations complement Bank…