There are several ways to invest money. Investing in a battered sector like financials right now does take a little courage. But not as much as you might think if you play it correctly. You can use a very similar criteria when looking to buy into the dreaded banking sector. First thing that you can do is to look for strong banks: Sounds obvious, I know. But one of the best ways to define a "strong bank" in this climate is its ability to pay and raise dividends during the current market