Phil Town was raised in Portland, Oregon. He graduated from high school in the 1960s. After four attempts at college, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the University of California, San Diego. In 1972, following a stint in the US Army as a Green Beret, Town found himself sleeping in a tent in Flagstaff, Arizona conducting whitewater rafting trips down the Colorado River.

In 1980, he ran a rafting expedition for trustees of the Outward Bound Program. The trip was nearly catastrophic when the boat almost capsized in a rough section of the Colorado River. One of the men on that trip told Phil that he could be “doing better than pumping rubber all summer and living on welfare in the off season.” The man was an experienced investor and offered to mentor Phil. With a credit card advance of $1,000, Town began his career in investments and with careful application of what he was learning from his mentor he made his first million in five years. Since that time he has taught more than 500,000 people each year to do the same.

Phil’s interest in meditation and spirituality led him to personalize what he had learned from his mentor. His values-based investing philosophy centers around four key principals he calls the four M’s. In 2005, he began his Rule #1 blog where he teaches readers how to invest without compromising their own ethics. In 2006, Random House released his book Rule #1 through its Crown imprint. It was #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and on Business Week's bestseller list, as well as USA Today’s list of top business books. Rule #1 is now published in 14 languages. His second book, Payback Time, was released by Random House in March, 2010 and immediately went to #1 on the NY Times best seller list. Payback Time explains the concept of 'Stockpiling' stocks for long term high returns with low risk.

Phil Town has appeared with Rudy Giuliani, Colin Powell and President Jimmy Carter, and is currently a part of the “Seize the Day” business conference with Bill O'Reilly, Laura Bush, Ben Stein, Terry Bradshaw and others. He has appeared on CNBC’s The Millionaire Inside series and is featured on the first and second episodes, “Your Guide to Wealth” and “Your Guide to Retiring Rich” along with David Bach, Barbara Corcoran and Loral Langemeier. He is a regular contributor to MSNBC’s show Your Business, and has appeared on Maria Bartiromo’s show Closing Bell.