Permanent Fund Dividend Will be Lower than Last Year

Alaskans can expect a lower Permanent Fund Dividend this year. Even though the Fund had excellent earnings in the fiscal year that just ended, most of those earnings stayed in the Fund.  The actual yield is based on the income from assets sold and from interest payments…and this year, the yield, or realized earnings, total less than last year’s. Permanent Fund Executive Director Mike Burns told Alaskans on statewide radio this morning that the amount they sent to the Department of Revenue to be divided among all qualified dividend applicants is down:

Last year’s dividend was $1,281. A six or seven percent decrease would drop that to $1,200, but the final calculation is sure to be less than that because of the increasing number of applications.

Still, the growth in the Fund’s earnings will likely boost future dividends, which are based on a five year rolling average.

Burns said he was very satisfied with the closing numbers this year:

Over the past few years, the Fund has changed the way it calculates the risk of its portfolio of investments. It remains about fifty percent invested in stocks, but it also has percentage goals for various sorts of risk. But the real reason for its high performance, Burns said, was the fact that the markets were all doing well, with even the depressed real estate sector showing growth:

The year-end report from the fund starts a countdown toward payment of the Dividend on October 6. The next step will be an announcement from the Revenue Department of the actual amount of the Permanent Fund Dividend, which usually happens in September.

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