Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs): Compound Your Earnings

What Is a Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP)?

Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs) enable investors to automatically use their cash dividends to purchase additional shares or fractional shares of a company's stock, enhancing their earnings over time. By participating in a DRIP, investors can take advantage of the company's program to acquire shares without paying commissions, often at a discounted price. This method of compounding earnings can significantly boost investment returns, making it a valuable option for both existing and new shareholders looking to systematically increase their stock holdings.

Key Takeaways

Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs) allow shareholders to reinvest their dividends into additional shares of the company, often at a discounted price and without paying commissions.
By participating in a DRIP, investors can benefit from the compounding effect of reinvested dividends, potentially increasing their returns over time.
DRIPs offer the advantage of acquiring fractional shares, ensuring that every dividend dollar is reinvested in the company.
Companies benefit from DRIPs as they provide a source of capital and may encourage shareholders to hold onto their stock during market downturns.
While DRIPs can be a powerful tool for long-term investment, dividends reinvested are still subject to taxation unless they are held in a tax-advantaged account.

Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs): An arrangement allowing shareholders to automatically use the proceeds from dividends to purchase more shares in the company. — Investopedia / NoNo Flores

How DRIPs Work: A Detailed Overview

Normally, when dividends are paid, they are received by shareholders as a check or a direct deposit into their bank account. DRIPs, which are also known as dividend reinvestment programs, give shareholders the option of reinvesting the amount of a declared dividend into additional shares, which are bought directly from the company.

Because shares purchased through a DRIP typically come from the company’s own reserve, they are not marketable through stock exchanges. Shares must be redeemed directly through the company, also.

Most DRIPs allow investors to buy shares commission-free or for a nominal fee, and at a significant discount to the current share price; they may set dollar minimums. However, most do not allow reinvestments much lower than $10. While DRIPs are usually intended for existing shareholders, some companies do make them available to new investors, usually specifying a minimum purchase amount.

Even though shareholders don't receive reinvested dividends directly, they must report them as taxable income unless these are in a tax-advantaged account like an IRA.

Note

While most DRIPs use the cash proceeds from dividends to purchase additional shares, more complex methods can occur if the dividend itself is granted in stock in lieu of cash.

Discovering the Benefits: Why Choose DRIPs?

There are several advantages of purchasing shares through a DRIP, for both the company issuing the shares and the shareholder.

Investor Benefits: Why DRIPs are a Smart Choice

DRIPs offer shareholders a way to accumulate more shares without having to pay a commission. Many companies offer shares at a discount through their DRIP.

Between no commissions and a price discount, the cost basis for owning the shares can be significantly lower than if the shares were purchased on the open market. Through DRIPs, investors can also buy fractional shares, so every dividend dollar is really going to work.

Over time, DRIPs enhance returns through the power of automatic reinvestment and compounding. When dividends are increased, shareholders receive an increasing amount on each share they own, which can also purchase a larger number of shares.

Over time, this increases the total return potential of the investment. Because more shares can be purchased whenever the stock price decreases, the long-term potential for bigger gains is increased.

Company Gains: How DRIPs Benefit Corporations

Dividend-paying companies also benefit from DRIPs in a couple of ways. First, when shares are purchased from the company for a DRIP, it creates more capital for the company to use. Second, shareholders who participate in a DRIP are less likely to sell their shares when the stock market declines.

Partly that's because participants tend to be long-term investors and recognize the role their dividends play in the long-term growth of their portfolios. DRIP-purchased shares are less liquid than market-bought shares since they can only be sold back to the company.

Important

Most DRIPs, such as the one discussed here, are sponsored by a company (issue-sponsored) through their transfer agent, who holds the shares. Note that some brokerages allow customers to participate in a transfer agent DRIP while keeping the shares at the brokerage firm. In a broker-sponsored DRIP, the broker buys the shares using the dividend proceeds in the open market.

Example in Action: 3M's DRIP Program Explained

3M offers a DRIP program. It is the Automatic Dividend Reinvestment Plan administered by the company's transfer agent, EQ Shareowner Services. The plan allows for quarterly cash dividends to be automatically reinvested in purchasing 3M stock. The company pays all fees and commissions.

What Is the Downside to Reinvesting Dividends?

Reinvesting dividends means you don't receive the cash from the dividend which could be used for other purposes, such as spending it or investing it elsewhere. You also may have to pay taxes, and if you don't receive the cash payout, you're paying taxes from your own funds.

How Do I Avoid Paying Taxes on Reinvested Dividends?

Dividends are taxed as capital gains if they are qualified dividends or as ordinary income if they are nonqualified dividends. The only way you can avoid paying taxes on reinvested dividends in the year they're earned is by holding those stocks in a tax-advantaged plan, such as a 401(k).

Why Do Companies Pay Dividends Instead of Reinvesting?

There can be many reasons why companies pay dividends instead of reinvesting. Paying dividends is a sign of financial strength showing that a company is performing well enough to not only run its business successfully but share that success with its shareholders. Paying dividends can make a company's stock more appealing to investors.

The Bottom Line

Some companies pay out dividends, which is a beneficial feature of owning their stock, allowing for fixed income to be distributed to the shareholder.

Some companies offer DRIPs, enabling shareholders to buy more shares with their dividends instead of receiving cash. If an investor thinks the stock is valuable, participating in a DRIP can enhance their portfolio, especially with no fees or commissions.

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