The Federal Reserve signaled Wednesday that higher interest rates are coming, Washington Post reports.

The Fed Reserve has cleared the way for raising interest rates for the first time since the financial crisis, although they are in no hurry to act on that decision.

They may wait until later in the year to act on rates and decided to definitely not raise interest rates in April.

"Just because we removed the word 'patient' from the statement does not mean we are going to be impatient," Federal Reserce Chair Janet L. Yellen said.

Many factors affect the central bank's next move including low inflation, abrupt strengthening of the dollar, and economic issues in Europe and Japan.

Stock and bond prices sharply increased after the Federal Reserve announced its action on interest rates.

The Fed has helped to lower interest rates for millions of car buyers, homeowners and businesses in the past 50 years. The cost of paying interest for homeowners is currently at its lowest since 1980.

Yellen says the Federal Reserve is pushing to raise interest rates back up to 3.5 and 4 percent, which are "normal" levels.

There is no telling how businesses and homeowners will adjust to it once the action is in effect.

Even with the Federal Reserve wanting to raise interest rates, the market has driven long-term rates lower.

The interest rate on 10-year Treasury bonds tumbled below 2 percent.

Although the Fed promised to be "patient," it could start to raise interest rates as early as June, The New York Times reports.

Evan A. Schnidman, chief executive of Prattle Analytics, said the Federal Reserve was supposed to raise interest rates earlier than June.

"Although they are individually eager to normalize policy, they are collectively reticent about the possibility of raising rates prematurely," Schnidman said.

Either way, the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates sometime this year, signaling that the economy no longer needs as much help from the central bank in stimulating growth.