Aaron: Talk about, I know you reinvest with dividends and, you know, for a lot of people they say, there's a lot of people that came in that are older than you that are 65, 70 and they are like well my dividends now pay for my living expenses. It's not doing that now, but where do you think, by doing what you are doing where do you think it is going to get you? What kind of freedom do you think it is going to get you?

Mr. Johnson: I think this is going to allow me to do the things that I want to do with my life and my family 10, 15 years from now because I am going to reach that goal of the Dividend Machine providing me with all of my daily expenses and then some and I will continue to reinvest and I will be able to leave something for my family for the future because this is the real reason why I'm doing this; it's not only for me but it's for my children and their children because I want to be able to leave a legacy for them and the Dividend Machine gives me the best vehicle to do that in a safe manner.

Aaron: Perfect and that's great. We've had a couple of people say that as far as leaving a legacy and it's so important. Have you told anybody about the Dividend Machine and, if so, what have you told them?

Mr. Johnson: When I talk to my friends about investing I first ask them how much do you make on your savings accounts and a lot of them tell me that they make .1% and I tell them how would you like to make at 3% on an ongoing basis and they ask how can you do that and I say it is with value oriented dividend paying stocks and I just preach to them that this is the way to invest and make a large nest egg for the future is through dividend paying stocks because of the current interest rate environment there is absolutely no way to make a lot of money. You can't leave your money in the banks. The interest rates that they are paying are just not going to get you ahead of the game and the only way to do that is through dividend investments.

Aaron: What would you say to people who think, you know what that sounds good 3%, you know, that's nothing. I want to go for the next best investment?

Mr. Johnson: I would tell them to talk to somebody else because it's not the way things work anymore. I will give them my life experience of what happened to me when I chased the latest and greatest investment fad; it's not out there. There's no such thing as a get quick rich scheme and if there is you are the one holding the bag at the end while the other guys are the ones that got their money out of it. Investing is a marathon; you need to invest for the long term. It takes time.

Aaron: Let's talk about the price; for $100 a year do you think it is a pretty good bargain?

Mr. Johnson: A pretty good bargain is putting it mildly. This newsletter is worth so much more than that. I don't think you can quantify how valuable this newsletter really is because of the intrinsic value it provides and not only from a financial standpoint, but for me personally from a peace of mind standpoint. It has provided me with a roadmap to reach financial security and I don't have to take undue risk and that's what it is all about.

Aaron: Perfect. Finish this statement without the Dividend Machine and start off by saying "without the Dividend Machine" and just finish it for me.

Mr. Johnson: Without the Dividend Machine I still think I would be an investment purgatory.

Aaron: That's all I want you to say. Now let's flip it, thanks to the Dividend Machine …

Mr. Johnson: Thanks to the Dividend Machine I have a bright financial future and I feel safe and secure knowing that my future retirement needs are going to be met through the dividends from the Dividend Machine. That sounded awful.

Aaron: Do you want to do it again?

Mr. Johnson: Okay. What was the question again?

Aaron: Thanks to the Dividend Machine, you know, and it is like I think at the end of the day what we're looking for is just, you know, thanks to the Dividend Machine, you know, I'm going to be able to retire when I want to retire; I'm going to be able to …

Mr. Johnson: Thanks to the Dividend Machine I've been able to take control of my finances and my investments and my strategy to get me to where I want to be in the future, which is doing what I want to do when I want to do it on my own terms.

Aaron: This guy is just full of one liners, I love him. Seriously, you are doing great.

Mr. Johnson: I need to work for you. I'll send you my resume.

Aaron: Yeah, absolutely. A lot of people watching this probably think that they are too stupid or they are too much of a novice investor to benefit from this and you are an intelligent guy, you know a lot about banking and finance, but what would you have to say to those people who think, you know what maybe I'm not smart enough to do something like this?

Mr. Johnson: I would heartedly disagree with somebody who says they are not smart enough to invest in the stock market. If it is done in a safe and prudent manner using a vehicle like the Dividend Machine it is safe for anyone and you will not lose money, you will grow over time and you will be able to sleep at night.

Aaron: Perfect. We have a lot of people who actually think that they don't have enough money to invest in the Dividend Machine. What would you say to those people?

Mr. Johnson: I would say that you don't have enough money not to invest in the Dividend Machine because only if you buy one share of stock you've started your Dividend Machine.

Aaron: Can you say that again, you started off almost a little slow like, I mean you said it a little lightly. You said …

Mr. Johnson: Okay, ask the question again so I can get the frame.

Aaron: Okay, I can't remember what you said now but it was really good, but it was just really kind of light when you went into it.

Mr. Johnson: Okay.

Aaron: A lot of people say they don't have enough money to invest in the Dividend Machine, what would you have to tell those people?

Mr. Johnson: I would tell them that they don't have enough money not to invest in the Dividend Machine because all you need to do is buy one share of stock and you started your Dividend Machine and it will just grow from there.

Aaron: Perfect. We got the smart, we got the money, age. Let's break it down to this, there are a lot of people who are going to be watching your video and the video that we put together and thinking you know what this sounds good, but I'll wait or ___________ most people just won't react to it. They will kick the can, it sounds interesting; I'll think about it. What would you say to those people that are hesitant to do this, that think they should just maybe wait and think about it?

Mr. Johnson: The greatest journey begins with a single step. You need to take action to secure your own financial future and the best way to do that is to start by creating your own Dividend Machine.

Aaron: Perfect. Is there one thing that you would like to say to Bill Spetrino as like a thank you for helping you with your finances and everything and you know, if I'm Bill you would say "Bill, thank you so much", just talk like that.

Mr. Johnson: I don't know if I can express in words what Bill Spetrino has brought to my life in regards to the investment area. Using his methodology and his guidance really saved me from the continued investment follies that I would follow over the years. I want to thank him for setting me on the right course, the prudent investment course of investing in fundamentally strong companies that pay dividends and increase those dividends over time so not only do I get the growth of the stock market, but I get the increase in dividends so while I'm sleeping I'm earning money.

Aaron: How much money, if you are willing to share it, how much money are you earning?

Mr. Johnson: Uh, on a percentage basis, I have developed my Dividend Machine to yield (as I have talked earlier) is 3.2%, but the total return is going to be almost 20% at the end of 5 years per year.

Aaron: All right. I've been asking you a lot of questions and you might have come here with a couple of things that were on your mind, you know, like I don't want to touch this or touch that. Do you have anything else to tell us that maybe you want to touch on?

Mr. Johnson: Oh boy. Let me think.

Aaron: I do have one more thing that I want to ask you.

Mr. Johnson: Sure, go ahead.

Aaron: Talk about the newsletter itself like you kind of talked about the benefits of it and stuff but let's just talk about reading it; it's enjoyable to read and stuff like that I think is always good.

Mr. Johnson: It is very enjoyable to read and it is very user friendly because Bill speaks in a language and explains things that everybody can understand it. He speaks English. He speaks investment English. When Bill describes a stock Bill gives firm solid reasons to invest in that stock and I think he does an excellent of explaining the price ranges and how he comes up with that. Because you make money when you buy the stock; not when you sell the stock and using Bill's guidance you can actually increase the amount of money that you make.

Aaron: Perfect. I was busy saving the world's bank and Bill was busy saving my bank.

Mr. Johnson: While I was in Washington working on the TARP Program to save the nation's financial system Bill Spetrino was saving my own personal investments.

Aaron: Perfect. So, anything else that you might think of because you have been really good and I feel like it has gone really quick?

Mr. Johnson: No, I really can't express how much this really does mean to me on a personal level to be able to share my story because it really has changed my life. The Dividend Machine newsletter really has changed my life for the positive and like I said earlier, I was an investment purgatory and if it weren't for Bill Spetrino and reading his newsletter I would still be there now.

Aaron: I always like the purgatory analogy because I think a lot of people are in that. They don't know what to do, they are stuck – that's what they are.

Mr. Johnson: You are absolutely right, people are stuck. They don't know what to do and I call it paralyses by analysis; take a step, buy the stock, get your machine rolling and the next thing you know you'll be riding down easy street and you will be so happy that you did.

Aaron: Perfect, you nailed it.

Mr. Johnson: (Laughing) I just talk too much.

Aaron: Look right in this camera and say your name and say "I'm just thrilled, I'm blessed, I'm excited to be a Dividend Machine subscriber".

Mr. Johnson: My name is Paul Johnson and I'm thrilled beyond belief to be a Dividend Machine subscriber.

Aaron: Okay, one more time.

Mr. Johnson: My name is Paul Johnson and I'm thrilled beyond belief to be a Dividend Machine subscriber.

Aaron: One more time …

Mr. Johnson: My name is Paul Johnson and I am thrilled to be a Dividend Machine subscriber.

Aaron: Okay.

(Background conversation)

Aaron: Let's just say they are paying 3%, well it is already, you know, let's say you are going to be in an 8 mile race, would you rather start at line 0 or at mile 3?

Mr. Johnson: Exactly, you are exactly right and whenever I talk to my friends about the Dividend Machine I always tell them, the first question I ask them is what are you making on your savings account and they will either say what do you mean, a savings account and I'll say yes, if you had one what are you going to make on it and they will say usually 10 basis points or, you know, .1% or .12% and I tell them well I have a Dividend Machine which provides me with 3.12% and the risk is minimal and they go what do you mean the risk is minimal and I say well the way I designed my Dividend Machine is it has an average weighted beta of .82% and if you compare that to the average stock market which is 1%. I have less risk than the overall stock market and I earn 3.12% on my model. I don't see how I can go wrong there.

Aaron: Perfect. One thing that I want you to do is, I was a little worried about the wind and stuff like that, you had mentioned that there is the 2500% difference basically.

Mr. Johnson: Right.

Aaron: Talk about that again.

Mr. Johnson: Basically, right now if you have a savings account the average rate that you are earning on that is .12%. My dividend model that I have developed with Bill's guidance yields me an average dividend yield of 3.12%; the difference between those two is 2500% so, what would you rather earn .1% or 3.12%?

Aaron: Do that last line one more time.

Mr. Johnson: What would you rather earn .1% or 3.12%?

Aaron: Perfect. Talk a little bit about the dividends coming in and how nice it is just to get that regular check coming in.

Mr. Johnson: I got to tell you, with the Dividend Machine I feel like John Rockefeller. One of his favorite times is when his dividends rolled in on a quarterly basis. I just love looking at the upward growth of my dividend machine and when I see the dividends roll in and I see the invested stocks and I know my portfolio is growing, but the income is also going to be growing as well because my holdings are growing incrementally with each reinvested dividend and I think it is great that I get paid to own shares in a company.

Aaron: One way I always look at it, and I don't know if we're going to get a question out this, but I always look at it like, you know, everyone always wants to be investing in that one company that is solid and safe and what a lot of people I don't think realize is that there are these companies out there that you can literally evaluate and they want your money, they are asking for it and they are willing to pay you for it and give you annual pay increases so, what you are saying is very powerful.

Mr. Johnson: That's a good, how would I go about that?

Aaron: I don't know. I was just saying, you got me thinking about it. Compare what your life was like before the Dividend Machine to what it is now even as far as like the certainty that is out there and the direction because there is a lot of choices and a lot of confusion about what to do. Now, you can have that roadmap, that pathway?

Mr. Johnson: Right. I think the biggest improvement in my life that I have now since I've developed my dividend machine is it has given me peace of mind because I don't have to worry about the latest investment fad, I don't have to get up and look at the stock market every day. I know that I have invested in strong fundamental companies that pay a dividend that increases over time and that my whole machine is going to increase in value quarter after quarter after quarter. Now, does that mean that I set it and forget it – no, I have to continue to look at it and follow Bill's advice and his guidance and see if it still meets within my own investment expectation because we all know that bulls and bears make money, pigs get lead to slaughter. So, I incorporate that into my own investment philosophy and when I construct my dividend machine.

Aaron: Let's talk a little bit about; you have been with him since 2011?

Mr. Johnson: Yes.

Aaron: Do you have list of like kind of gains, and if you don't name the stocks and just say, you know, one stock is up this much and another stock is up that much?

Mr. Johnson: One stock was up 67% and another stock was up 31% and another stock was up 33% and another stock was up 25% and another stock is up 15% and one I have is it is up only 9%, but I have it for the yield, which is over 5% right now. So, I have been very happy my dividend portfolio.

Aaron: Awesome. Overall how much do you think you have been averaging every year?

Mr. Johnson: Right now the weighted average yield for my dividend machine will be approximately 18% and that will probably go up because you have to factor in the dividends that you receive on top that so, just the return, the 5 year weighted average return is 18% and then I add my 3.12% dividend on top of that and I'm ahead of the game again.

Aaron: Perfect. It sounds like you just reinvest your dividends right?

Mr. Johnson: At this point in time I reinvest my dividends to keep the Machine growing. At some point in time, I will probably start taking some out, but right now I just reinvest and I think my philosophy, again, is I like the flexibility of Bill's methodology because if there is something that I'm not comfortable with one of his recommendations I don't necessarily have to invest in that; I keep my investments tied to the conservative and aggressive portfolios in which he has designated, but since I have only been with him for about 3 years I don't have all of the stocks in his portfolio. So, I have had to create my own machine and I will invest in more in his area when the prices get back to his recommended prices.

Aaron Let me ask you this. There are a lot of people that, lets talk about the newsletter itself because a lot of people, I think, the concept is like I won't be able to do it or it is going to be boring or whatever.

Mr. Johnson: I think, you know, the greatest journey begins with a single step; buy one share of stock. I have a couple of different dividend machines; one I started just with after-tax money and then I have one that I rolled over a 401(k) into. One is much larger than the other, but you take that first step, invest in one share of stock and the next thing you know you can get two as long as you are within the guidelines of the prices in which Bill has recommended. I mean I can't stress enough the fact that you should just do it and you will be happy you did because, you know, in a year from now you will look at that and you will see the increase in value; not only from growth in the market, but also from the dividends that you have reinvested. So, when I first started looking at the dividend machine newsletter I saw that there were a lot of stocks that were outside of the buy range, well I focused on those that were within the buy range and were close to that and was able to start that way and over time, as you can see, the market goes up and down and you are able to invest in those stocks that were previously out of reach and, it is like is said earlier, investing is a marathon. There is always going to be time to go into the market. You just have to be patient, reinvest and you will have peace of mind knowing that the companies that you selected are strong, fundamentally, financially viable institutions that pay dividends to you over time.

Aaron Let's start with some basic questions about your life and then we're going to get more into investing.

Mr. Johnson: Okay.

Aaron So, tell me your name and what year you were born?

Mr. Johnson: My name is Paul Johnson and I was born in 1963.

Aaron I'm sorry "Paul".

Mr. Johnson: Paul.

Aaron Tell me a little bit about your career and what you do for a living?

Mr. Johnson: My career is, I am a financial consultant for the banking industry. I spent 27 years with the Bank Regulatory Agency, the FDIC and I've been involved in financial matters pretty much my whole adult life.

Aaron Talk to us a little bit about what you do there and kind of even now, like what is your main job in dealing with TARP and stuff like that and we'll talk a little bit about that just to kind of get a little bit of your background.

Mr. Johnson: Well, as a bit of a background, my background is really in the risk management of financial institutions to make sure that institutions perform in a safe and sound manner and that the deposits of the public are protected and part of our job was to go into these institutions and make sure that they did follow all of the rules and regulations and that they performed in a manner that kept, you know, they made sound loans and did not expose the bank or the deposit insurance fund any undue risks.

Aaron So, let's talk a little bit about your investing, but before we do that let's talk about TARP. So, you were involved with TARP?

Mr. Johnson: I was involved with the TARP situation. Back in 2008 when the financial industry was suffering the Treasury Department came up with the Troubled Asset Relief Program ("TARP") and what that entailed was giving banks money to help cover the losses or proposed losses that they were going to incur with the bad loans, so my job was to analyze these institutions and make sure that they could repay the money that the government was going to lend to them and make sure that these institutions were still viable on an ongoing basis so that the government would not lose money and so far it appears that the program has been working and the economy is turning around slowly but surely, but for a while there is was pretty scary.

Aaron Let's talk about your investment background and how did you start investing, even if it was the fact when you were 15, 25 or whatever and lets just talk about that all the way up until the dividend machine?

Mr. Johnson: Okay. That's a great story because originally I started invested as a child. I would get some shares of stock that my father and from the company he worked in and he wanted to expose me to the stock market at a young age to see how it worked and what I did with that was I just let the dividends roll back into the stock and purchase more. So, at an early age, I was introduced to the value oriented dividend paying model of investing and I use that over the years and then low and behold I don't know what happened to my investment strategy, but I strayed from the path. I decided I would follow the latest investment fads and I got caught in the tech bubble, I got caught in the real estate bubble. I was just trying to find the next get rich quick scheme and there just isn't one and I lost a lot more than I made and then low and behold I came across the dividend machine and that was my ah-ha moment because that is the way to invest because investing is a marathon; it is not a sprint and the value oriented dividend model pays off over time and there is no such thing as a free lunch; you can't get rich quick. So, I was very happy to find Bill's methodology.

Aaron Perfect. We're going to talk about Bill's methodology in a minute and that was a great, great answer. What I want to do is talk a little bit about a lot of people got hurt in the tech bust and the real estate crash. Talk a little bit about that and if you would even like, you don't have to get into specifics of how much lost, but how it affected you and what it felt like.

Mr. Johnson: When I was involved in investing in tech stocks, we thought that there was no ceiling and that everything was going to continue to rise and rise and rise, but I stepped back and hind sight is always 20/20 and in this case, it is 20/10 because these companies had no earnings. There was no fundamental strength in these companies and we were just chasing it. We were inflating the bubble. We would buy a tech stock and the next thing you know it is up 10%, well let's buy more; it's always going to go up and the next thing you know it goes up 20% well I'll sale that; there's a new hot one over here that my friend just told me about. I'm going to go and invest in that one and then the next thing you know who is left holding the handle; well it would be me because I'm the retail investor. I'm the guy who really didn't know what was really going on. I was blinded by the latest investment fad. The blinders were on and it didn't feel good at all because I was losing sleep, the loss of security because all of my hard earned money was going away and there was nothing I could do to fix it at that point in time.

Aaron So, then along came 2002 and the real estate market took off. Did you start investing in real estate?

Mr. Johnson: I did. I thought well I lost a lot here in the tech bubble; I'll make it up in some real estate. I'll flip some properties and I'll see what I can do. Well, when somebody like me, the average person, starts getting involved in real estate that's the time to get out, you know, but I was blinded. I thought I got to make it up; I lost so much the in the technology bubble that here let's get involved in the some real estate. The next thing you know that bubble went.

Aaron So, let's say 2008/2009/2010 the real estate market had collapsed. What were you doing at that time and then talk to me about when you discovered the dividend machine.

Mr. Johnson: After the real estate market collapsed I pretty much took a time out from investing because I had been burned so many different times and I had literally lost my way, if that makes sense. I didn't know what to do and somehow, and I don't know how it happened, I clicked on a link on the internet and it brought me to the dividend machine and I started reading it and I thought back to my childhood and my early investing years and I was "hey, this makes perfect sense", you invest in a solid financially fundamentally firm company and you reinvest the dividends over time and what happens, the growth and income happens while you sleep.

Aaron Perfect. So, when did you first subscribe to the dividend machine and it might sound like you are repeating yourself but …

Mr. Johnson: No, no that's fine.

Aaron … how did that almost kind of provide a roadmap for you?

Mr. Johnson: I started investing in the dividend machine back in 2011, which seems kind of, you know, he has been around since 2007 - is that right?

Aaron 2009.

Mr. Johnson: 2009, so I'm late to the game a couple of years and the roadmap is one that makes perfect sense in the fact that investing is a marathon and not a sprint and to build value over time the best way to do that is to invest in the dividends and have those rollover and rollover and rollover and, to me, the dividend machine has unleashed the power of compounding, which is the greatest mathematical discovery known to mankind in my opinion because your dividends compound over time and it's just grows and grows while you sleep. I mean what a country because companies give me money to invest in their shares; that's great.

Aaron You sound like Albert Einstein there.

Mr. Johnson: Well, you know, I don't know if Einstein actually said that the power of compounding is the greatest force.

Aaron That's very, it's pretty much known; he didn't say it, but we attribute it to him.

Mr. Johnson: We still attribute it to Einstein; well, Einstein was smart.

Aaron So, you had mentioned earlier like even though you are saying this is a marathon one of the things you mentioned earlier is that compared to money you get in other safe investments; first is the money you get that is in these safe investments.

Mr. Johnson: Exactly. With Bill's methodology and my own personal investment philosophy I developed my dividend machine where I have a weighted average dividend yield of 3.12% whereas, if you compare that to the average savings account rate right now is .12%; that's a difference of over 2,500%. I know where I'm going to put my money.

(Recording Ends)