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Reinvest those dividends, and your results become even greater. Take JPMorgan Chase for example. Since the late 1960s, JPMorgan's share price has increased just 318%. Yet add in reinvested dividends, and total returns jump by an order of magnitude: 
There's no ambiguity here: Over time, JPMorgan's share appreciation alone has paled in importance to the power of its reinvested dividends. The results are similar for competitors Wells Fargo and US Bancorp . Reinvested dividends skew both companies' total long-term returns higher. If you're a long-term shareholder, don't worry about daily share wobbles. Devote your attention those dividend payouts, and your commitment to reinvest them.

And how do JPMorgan's dividends look? Like all big banks, JPMorgan had to slash its dividend in recent years to cope with the financial crisis -- in its case, to a nickel a share per quarter. That payout has since been raised to $0.25 per share, but that figure remains one-third below pre-crisis levels.

In a conference call last week, CEO Jamie Dimon said the bank would "generate significant excess capital" in both the near and long term. "It's quite obvious to us," he said, "we have a lot of extra capital and cash, not just in the next short run, but over next several years, and we will apply [for regulatory approval] for more [dividend increases] as appropriate." If you're a long-term shareholder, expect higher dividends to come. 







The Extraordinary Power of Dividends: JPMorgan Chase Edition @themotleyfool #stocks $JPM, $USB, $WFC