Author John E. Girouard grew up the youngest of four sons in Hartford, Connecticut, wearing hand-me-downs and working odd jobs to pay his way through parochial school and the University of Maryland while earning his BA in Economics.

He built his career in the investment world by combining family lessons about frugality with a strong desire to help others improve their lives by achieving financial peace-of-mind.

Working with thousands of clients over the past twenty-five years, he developed some basic principles--what he calls "truths"--about money that combine common sense (wealth comes from ownership) with honest, impartial advice (investments are not “products”).

Since 1984 he has been President and CEO of CAPITAL Asset Management Group, and is the founder of the Institute for Financial Independence, which offers educational programs and resources for individual and corporate investors. He holds the highest certifications in the field of financial advice and is trained as a financial-life coach.

He has been a member of the Board of Visitors of the University of Maryland College Park Foundation and lives in Washington, DC with his wife, Colleen, and two children, Caitlin and Coley.

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