Speaker:              This is kind of an open forum where you can just give me anything you want to talk to.

Bob:                       I personally want to thank Bill.  I know I'm going to get a chance to meet him and I appreciate that, but I personally want to thank him …

Speaker:              Start over.

Bob:                       Okay.  I personally want to thank Bill for what he has done for me.  He took a person who was highly educated and yet totally downtrodden because of the economic downturn in 2008 and 2009 and he gave me confidence again.  He gave me the ability to look down the road, look at a bigger picture instead of just one particular slice of the pie.  He gave me an opportunity to have another chance at what I wanted to do successfully financially.

Speaker:              I am happy. 

(Rolling)

Bob:                       Number 8, Bill has different platforms of media that he communicates with.  It's not just the newsletter; it's also social media.  He gives us podcasts, he gives us e-mail and also when you call the Dividend Machine you get real people to talk to.  You can e-mail them and they will get back to you.  You can call them and they'll speak to you.  There's a lot of communication effort that goes into this for a mere $0.26 a day. 

Speaker:              All right.  What I want to do is get the name in the camera if we get nothing else.  If you can look right here and hold the gaze here when you're done and just say, you know, my name is Bob Hawkensmith and I'm a Dividend Machine subscriber.

Bob:                       My name is Bob Hawkensmith and I'm a Dividend Machine subscriber.

Speaker:              And do it again.

Bob:                       My name is Bob Hawkensmith and I'm a Dividend Machine subscriber.

Speaker:              Awesome.  Let's see if we can squeeze a couple more in.

Bob:                       Sure.

Speaker:              One of the things that I want to talk about is, you know, there are probably people that are going to watch this who think that they don't have enough money to get started.  What would you say to them?

Bob:                       Good one.  Thank you for that.  How much money does it cost to get into the Dividend Machine?  I have seen people be able to get into it with as low as $250; that's the minimum that you need to invest into an IRA.  So, you can get into the Dividend Machine at any amount of money because the first thing you want to remember about The Dividend Machine is not how much money you have, but how much knowledge you want to have so, if you can get the knowledge then you can turn around and invest what you have learned after you get the knowledge.  So, I wouldn't worry about how much money you need to start worry about how much knowledge do you want.

Speaker:              Perfect and I know we're going to probably (inaudible – low audio).

Bob:                       I know, it's okay.  I'm ready.

Speaker:              What's the one thing you want people to know about the Dividend Machine?

Bob:                       I would like people to understand that the Dividend Machine is not just a newsletter; it's a group of people that actually care about your success and I think it is said best by, and I'm not sure who said it, but I think it is said best by look at what these other newsletters are doing.  80% of the revenues that come from a lot of these other newsletters come from the actual subscription of the newsletters and 97% of the income that comes from Mr. Spetrino comes from him investing; not from getting subscriptions of investors. 

Speaker:              Perfect and kind of back to the point we had earlier about, you know, not enough money to get started and it's the knowledge thing.  What would you say to people who think they are not smart enough to follow an investing newsletter?

Bob:                       Bill puts the dividend investing program into very simple terms.  I teach at the University level, but I've taught down at the high school level and in the Military as well.  He puts it in very basic concepts.  He may use a term that people don't understand, but he is good about explaining it in very simple terms so that anybody will understand it so don't think that you have to have a master's degree in finance in order to be able to understand the Dividend Machine.  You can simply understand it by just reading what he offers.

Speaker:              finally but, um, emotionally, spiritually, everything.  Can you kind of tell us at that time what your kind of internal feelings were when you were going through that?

Bob:                       I kept blaming myself because I kept thinking I should have known better, I should have known better.  Why didn't I put it in something that was a bit safer?  Then, on top of that, you have the ancillary issues where you start worrying about your future, where do I go to find another job to try and make up this income?  Is there enough time in the day to earn enough money to make up this income?  How is this going to affect your family?  My wife and I had terrible discussions about what could happen possibly with our future.  She was the brighter person than I because all I saw was the dark side and she saw the better side, but I got to tell you that there were many, many times where we had very hard emotional issues and periods where we weren't sure whether we were going to make it as a couple, where I didn't know if I was going to be able to be successful as an accountant because I should have foreseen many of the things that occurred and so I lost a lot of confidence in my professional abilities too.

Speaker:              Did that cause you to ever feel like you got to delay retirement or push off retirement?  Was there ever a like a longer term where you felt like you may not recover from that?

Bob:                       Because of that event, that 6 month event (from October, 2008 to March, 2009) I knew that I would have the Military retirement, but I also knew that I would never live the lifestyle I expected to live if I didn't rebuild this.  So, in my mind, I was thinking, I was hoping that at age 60 I would be able to just relax and enjoy life, but then because of that I said there's no way that's going to happen; I'll be 80 years old before I'll have that same opportunity and I started telling my clients that you can expect to work another 15 to 20 years before you are going to have the comfort you were thinking you were going to have prior to 2008.

Speaker:              At any point in time throughout this, you know, investing in an IRA, a Roth IRA, everything else were you ever using a money manager or a full service brokerage for any of your financial needs and, if the answer is yes, don't say the name just say, you know, at one point I was using a full service financial firm and things like that.

Bob:                       No, I was not using a full service financial firm.  I was a registered representative for 10 years so, I did my own investing.  I did not need a full service financial manage and so that's another reason why I felt so bad about my professional abilities because I had made such a bad choice or choices in the kinds of investments that I had put money into.

Speaker:              Good.  How did you, you know, kind of coming out of, you know, the financial crisis and you mentioned the 2008/2009 timeframe, how did you first hear about Bill Spetrino and the Dividend Machine?

Bob:                       Sure.

Speaker:              And, you know, reply by saying "I first heard about Bill …"

Bob:                       I first heard about Bill when I was actually trying to figure out how I was going to make back all of the money that I lost during the economy downsize like it did.  I first started with another newsletter that Newsmax sponsors and I was trying to find out how can I best make up some of this money and as time progressed I kept looking at different newsletters that were available from different resources and by accident I happened upon Bill's newsletter and the first thing that dawned dawned me was that he was a CPA and as soon as I saw that he was a CPA and, you know, I had an affinity for him immediately so, I took a look at what his premise was on his investing.  The second thing I thought immediately that I enjoyed was the fact that he was not a get rich quick person.  He tells you right up front that this is going to take years and years for you to get comfortable.  The third thing that I liked about what Bill does and his methodology is that he is very specific about how to allocate your portfolio between different kinds of investments for instance, put 90% in conservative investments, 5% international and 5% in aggressive.  I love that kind of specificity.  When I see that, I go okay this is somebody that I want to read more about.  Not only did he give us this, but he would also go one step further and say here are the companies that I think are good to buy and this is the price you should pay for them and no more.  That was as exact as it could be and so I was very interested in his methodology and I just kept reading and reading and eventually I said let me take a chance on him and wholly cow, have I done really well.  I've been very successful.

Speaker:              And what was it like when you came across Bill and kind of realized that your approach matched his approach?

Bob:                       Like I said, him being a CPA immediately I realized that he thought methodically, analytically; that's the first thing.  The second thing is he was a conservative person and I've always been a conservative person except prior to the 2008 debacle when I got greedy so I liked that about him as well.  Third, as I said, he is very specific about what you should invest in and instead of trying to invest in most of your investments for growth trying to hit a, you know, hit one out of the ballpark he likes to invest in some companies that actually make products and those making of products say no matter what happens in the economy they are still going to need these products and that, to me, was very alluring. 

Speaker:              Great.  How has your investing outlook and you mentioned earlier, you know, you were worried about retirement would come at 80 now.

Bob:                       Yeah.

Speaker:              How is your retirement outlook and investing outlook changed since you found the Dividend Machine?  Just kind of, you know, start off by saying "my investment outlooks improved and then kind of transition into the retirement part".

Bob:                       My investment outlook has vastly improved since 2010 when I joined the Dividend Machine and started subscribing to Bill's newsletter.  I've actually made over $170,000 just in that short period of time just by buying the investments that Bill has suggested alone, not anything else, just those alone.  I look at it now as I have a reprieve.  I have another opportunity.  I have a second chance to actually retire at an earlier age, if I so choose, from the kind of investing portfolio that Bill has suggested.

Speaker:              Fantastic.  How has that, you mentioned earlier that, you know, kind of during the darkest days there was a lot of emotional discussion with your wife and worries about how you are going to provide for them.

Bob:                       Yeah.

Speaker:              How has your well-being changed since you found the Dividend Machine?

Bob:                       A lot.  It has changed a lot.

Speaker:              And if you can start by saying "since finding Bill my outlook has …"

Bob:                       Since finding Bill my outlook has improved about how I am able to provide for my family.  I'm a professional and I have my own career and its primary role as a CPA, but at the same time not only do you have that one stream of income you have to also look at a second stream of income, your investing ability and your investing future because you are not going to get rich just from your primary occupation.  Bill's suggestions have given me confidence, has given me pretty much peace of mind now to know that the investments that I have are going to be good investments and even if the economy were to tank again I wouldn't run panicked because a lot of people that's what they do, they panic, they sell and, of course, that's when they lose (they sell at the bottom).  Bill teaches and I have always believed it, but now I actually live it, Bill teaches patience.  He teaches the ability to see beyond what the media sometimes tells us.  Look at the fundamentals, look at what is being built, what is being sold, what is being offered by these particular companies and recognize that good or bad times these products or services are going to be needed.

Speaker:              Absolutely.  No one is ever going to stop smoking or needing healthcare and things like that.

Bob:                       You got that right.

Speaker:              And you mentioned this a little bit, I think, in your response with, you know, being a teacher at Universities …

Bob:                       Right.

Speaker:              Have you recommended the Dividend Machine to any one and kind of what have you told them, you know, and start like "I've recommended this and I recommended that".

Bob:                       Right.  I have recommended the Dividend Machine to all of my clients.  I have 745 clients and I have recommended the Dividend Machine to all of my clients.  There are a couple of times when I have literally sent out copies of the Dividend Machine to some of my clients telling them they should actually invest their time and money into subscribing to the newsletter.  I've also recommended and given copies of the Dividend Machine to all of my students at the University.   I teach economics, I teach all of the master's classes in accounting, I teach one class of law, I teach the MBA program so, I've given copies of the newsletter to all of my students and all of my clients and pretty much anybody I end up talking to about investing.

Speaker:              Great.  Can you compare the returns you were getting before the Dividend Machine kind of, you know, starting back when you first started putting money aside, you know, compare that timeframe up until you sort of found the Dividend Machine and the Dividend Machine on its own.  Kind of start by saying "before the Dividend Machine I was getting …"

Bob:                       Before the Dividend Machine I was getting probably around 7-8% return, but what I need to say about subscribing to the Dividend Machine is not so much the return I'm getting although I'm getting a great return because I'm averaging about 12% right now and that's a pretty darn good average over a long period of time, but more importantly than that Bill doesn't just show us how to make money from a particular investment, he shows us how to pick a particular investment and he also shows us to stay or get out of a particular investment.  A lot of people will ride an investment all of the way up to the top and all of the way down to the bottom so, he lets us know how do we go about picking a particular investment, sticking with it and knowing when to get out because that's part of the philosophy knowing when to get out.  You're not going to buy something and keep it forever unless it has very good basic fundamentals. 

Speaker:              Perfect.  Without mentioning names, and I know in your e-mail you list a dollar amount of some of the gains.

Bob:                       Right.

Speaker:              What are some of the biggest gains you have gotten from the Dividend Machine and, you know, instead of saying, you know, Altria, you know, in one instance one stock gave me either this return or dollar amount or whatever?

Bob:                       One stock recommendation has given me over a $50,000 return since 2010.  Another one has given me over $25,000 return and yet another one $18,000 and another one $16,000 and another one $12,000 and another one $10,000 and $8,000.  I have almost every investment in the Dividend Machine portfolio save 5.  There are 5 that I do not have because I came in when it was too late and they were already too expensive at the time, but I have made very, very good returns with all of the investment suggestions that he has made. 

Speaker:              And right now, I notice from your e-mail you said that for the most part you are reinvesting dividends.  Last year I think you said you pulled some of them out to take four trips with your wife.

Bob:                       Right.

Speaker:              If you can kind of describe how it feels for someone to kind of, you know, you are receiving dividends; you are being paid for essentially doing nothing.

Bob:                       Right.

Speaker:              And you are enjoying them by being able to take trips with your wife and things like that so, kind of talk about, you know, what the dividends mean to you in terms of, you know, just enjoying the finer things in life.

Bob:                       Absolutely.  The dividends that I receive from these investments are effectively a tool that provides freedom; that's what it does for us.  It provides the ability to take some of that if we need it.  I typically don't.  I typically reinvest the dividends because that's actually how you make more money because if you reinvest the dividend than your basic investment is bigger and so your next dividend check is bigger yet and it just keeps growing and growing and growing, but if you do pull some out we have now freedom.  We have the ability to use that for things that perhaps we wouldn't be able to do for another couple of years because we would have to find another job and save on the side, but these dividends allow us to do it faster.

Speaker:              Perfect.  You talked on this earlier, the Dividend Machine has made you more confident but I just kind of want to focus on that for this next one.

Bob:                       Sure.

Speaker:              How has the Dividend Machine made you a more confident investor?

Bob:                       Because I used to …

Speaker:              And if you could start by saying "the Dividend Machine has made me more confident".

Bob:                       Got it.  The Dividend Machine has made me more confident because in the past prior to subscribing to it I would pick the investments that I thought had good basics and I'd do well sometimes and do terrible sometimes, but I see with the Dividend Machine far more consistency.  I have not invested in one single stock that has lost money in the Dividend Machine.  Now, has it gone up, has it gone down?  Yep, it certainly has.  Have I sold when it was losing money?  Nope.  I have not lost one single investment since I subscribed to the Dividend Machine so, that improves your confidence level because now you are going okay now I have a better idea of how to pick my investments and I also recognized that this is going to take time.  This is going to be around for a long time so don't try and hurry and once I see that I have made a particular profit then I can look at it and go now do I want to sell and keep that profit, do I want to split it off like with a couple of former stocks we split off and still kept them.  So I think what I see is the opportunity for us to be able to just let it continue to grow.

Speaker:              Perfect.  We're now to the part of today's program where I read you a statement and the same thing; you kind of read it back and just give me your thoughts.

Bob:                       Okay.

Speaker:              The Dividend Machine works out to cost about $0.26 a day for everything that you get.   Start by kind of saying, you know, the Dividend Machine costs $0.26 a day and just give me your thoughts on that.

Bob:                       The Dividend Machine costs $0.26 a day to subscribe to.  Imagine giving somebody almost a quarter every day and having them return to you 12% of what you might invest over time.  That's amazing.  There's nobody else I can think of that would do that.  Warren Buffet makes 18% return a year with the portfolio that he has today.  A 12% return effectively right now with the Dividend Machine is amazing at $0.26 a day and nobody else can do that.

Speaker:              Perfect.  The next one, without the Dividend Machine and, obviously, reply by saying "without the Dividend Machine".

Bob:                       Right.  Without the Dividend Machine what I think would happen is you would just be picking in the dark.   You wouldn't be sure whether this is a good investment.  Oh sure, you would pick a couple that are good because even a blind squirrel can find a nut in the forest.  So, you would pick one or two that would do well for you, but for the most part, most investors lose 75% to 80% of their investments because they don't know how to pick investments.

Speaker:              And the flip side of that coin is thanks to the Dividend Machine …

Bob:                       Thanks to the Dividend Machine (1) I have some of my loss back from 2008 and 2009 and (2) I go back to the basics of how to pick investments and I don't try to get into a rush, I don't try to get greedy, I recognize the length of time that is necessary to be successful with this and I also recognize that the capital you make has to be returned, it has to be reinvested in order to be successful over a long period of time.  

Speaker:              Perfect.  The next one, what do you like most about the Dividend Machine?

Bob:                       I got a whole list.

Speaker:              Start with "what I like most about the Dividend Machine" and go through them all.

Bob:                       Okay.  What I like most about the Dividend Machine is:

(1)                It is managed by a group of people that seem to care about the subscribers.  I have called a couple of times and actually have been helped very well by the staff at the Dividend Machine.

(2)                I like the fact that it is broken down between conservative, aggressive and international.

(3)                I like the fact that it tells the customer or the subscriber exactly which stocks to buy at what price. 

(4)                It lets you know what the yield is; not just the yield that the dividend pays, but the effective yield of the investment since the time you invest in it. 

(5)                It goes about telling you how much you should put into how much of your portfolio.  For instance, 80% should be in one particular stock so, if you are going to have a 90% portfolio that is conservative, than 18% should be in a particular stock.  That's as specific as you can get and hit helps.  It helps knowing how much to spread your portfolio around.

(6)                I like the fact that it is very cost effective.  It's ridiculously cheap for the service and the return that it provides.

(7)                I like the fact that Bill is a CPA and he thinks like I do, which means conservative and he's methodical and he is analytical and he does this over a long period of time.

(8)                I like the fact that he is communicating in different types of media.  It's not just the newsletter; you get emails, you get podcasts, you get a newsletter and you have people at the Dividend Machine who will actually answer your questions independently. 

Speaker:              Are we getting that?

Speaker 2:           Oh yeah.

Speaker:              Just pick up from 7, say 7 again.

Bob:                       Okay.  Let's see, 8 was when I was talking about the staff.  I'm trying to remember what I said for 7. 

Speaker:              Go ahead.

Bob:                       I'm trying to remember what I said for 7, that's the thing.

Speaker:              We're rolling.  Start easy.  What is your name and what year were you born:

Bob:                       My name is Robert Hawkensmith.  I go by "Bob" and I was born in early 1955. 

Speaker:              And tell us about your career?

Bob:                       I started out in the Military as a young high schooler and after the Military I spent 8 years active duty.  I went to college down in Tuscan and after graduating from college I ended up in Phoenix working for one of the big CPA firms.  Eventually I went out on my own and started my own CPA firm, currently that's what I do, I actually prepare tax returns, financial statements, a full service CPA firm and I give some financial advice to people on a pretty regular basis.

Speaker:              Now how in your career through, you know, CPA and even when you were in active duty and everything, how did you start setting aside money for investing in retirement accounts and things like that?  Take us through that process.

Bob:                       Well, as a child my grandfather had a big impact in my life and he always made us pick up pennies and grab copper that we could find, you know, he owned a junkyard and he always said that many people's trash actually becomes treasure and we need to know to put money aside for the future because you can never start too early and even as a little child I learned that.  So, I have always known to put money aside; actually how much to put aside I learned that through school and a little bit of experience, but I've always started since I was like about 8 years old to just try and put things aside so, I try to tell my clients you can never start saving for the future early enough. 

Speaker:              And how in your career started, were you putting money into a 401(k) or an IRA or when did you start putting money aside for your retirement and kind of what have your results been with that?

Bob:                       I started at 17 years old when I joined the Military.  I knew that I was going to spend 20 years in the Military and that would be a retirement account for me.  I absolutely knew that, but along the way I also realized I was going to need another stream of income to be able to provide a level of lifestyle that I wanted.  So, at the time that I graduated from college and I went to work for Arthur Anderson, one of the bigger CPA firms, I started putting 10% of my pay away and I was always told pay yourself first (that's what grandpa used to say), so we always took 10% of our gross income and put it into a savings account.  Starting back in the early '80s, in fact 1982, is when the IRAs came out and that's when we started putting money into the IRAs, but I couldn't put 10% of my income then into the IRA so I filled the IRA up and I just had a savings account.

Speaker:              And have you just been contributing to an IRA indefinitely or were you putting money aside in other investments or what did you, you know, since you started putting money aside where has it gone and kind of what has it turned into?

Bob:                       What I've done is I've opened up different IRAs, for instance, HSA which is effectively a medical IRA so, along the path between 17 and now I have a regular IRA, I have an HSA or a medical IRA, I started a 401(k) with my corporation, I teach at the University so I have their 401(k) and then I have a simple IRA at my CPA practice.  So, I have probably four or five places that I put money into for retirement. 

Speaker:              So you have been, obviously, investing for a long time.

Bob:                       Yes.

Speaker:              Tell me what it felt like and kind of what the consequences were when the .com bubble burst in 2000?

Bob:                       Actually, I did not invest in the .com bubble.  I was a computer analyst in the Military.  I actually went to school to become a computer repair person and a computer technician.  I didn't believe at the time that the .com era was going to last and so I never invested any money into it so; I never lost anything in that.  Now, switch that to 2008 and a different picture completely.  I was heavily invested in real estate, I was heavily invested in foreign currency exchange and I then was trying to get rich quick as opposed to the long trekking that should take place for a person to be successful.

Speaker:              And when the financial crisis hit in 2008 in terms of your overall portfolio what was the hit that you took and if you could start by saying "you know, the financial crisis in 2008" and whatever the result was?

Bob:                       The financial crisis of 2008 hit me very hard a number of ways:

(1)                My 401(k) dropped by over 60%. 

(2)                I also had a great deal of money outside of my retirement account invested in foreign currency manipulations, which unfortunately became a ponsey scheme so I literally lost $2 million of my retirement money or my savings in that debacle itself so, I lost 2/3 of all of the money I had saved up since I was 17 years old in just that one short period of time.

(Recording stops)