diff --git a/demo/app.component.ts b/demo/app.component.ts
index de6fb97..fbd6526 100644
--- a/demo/app.component.ts
+++ b/demo/app.component.ts
@@ -23,7 +23,10 @@ import { Account, Stormpath } from 'angular-stormpath';
         </div>
 
         <sp-authport></sp-authport>
-
+        
+        <h3 ifUser>Directives</h3>
+        <a href="#" ifUserInGroup="admin">Only show for 'admin' group</a><br>
+        <span ifUser>Only show if user logged in</span>
       </div>
     `,
   providers: [Stormpath]
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index df267e3..e9011fd 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 export * from './stormpath.module';
 
 // all components that will be codegen'd need to be exported for AOT to work
+export * from './user/index';
 export * from './authport/index';
 export * from './email-verification/index';
 export * from './forgot-password/index';
diff --git a/src/stormpath.module.ts b/src/stormpath.module.ts
index e122a66..90660ba 100644
--- a/src/stormpath.module.ts
+++ b/src/stormpath.module.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ import { LocalStorageTokenStoreManager, CookieTokenStoreManager } from './stormp
 import { Stormpath } from './stormpath/stormpath.service';
 import { Ng2Webstorage } from 'ng2-webstorage';
 import { CookieService } from 'angular2-cookie/core';
+import { IfUserInGroupDirective } from './user/if-user-in-group.directive';
+import { IfUserDirective } from './user/if-user.directive';
 
 @NgModule({
   declarations: [
@@ -26,7 +28,9 @@ import { CookieService } from 'angular2-cookie/core';
     RegisterComponent,
     EmailVerificationComponent,
     ResetPasswordComponent,
-    ResendEmailVerificationComponent
+    ResendEmailVerificationComponent,
+    IfUserDirective,
+    IfUserInGroupDirective
   ],
   imports: [CommonModule, FormsModule, HttpModule, Ng2Webstorage],
   exports: [
@@ -36,7 +40,9 @@ import { CookieService } from 'angular2-cookie/core';
     RegisterComponent,
     EmailVerificationComponent,
     ResetPasswordComponent,
-    ResendEmailVerificationComponent
+    ResendEmailVerificationComponent,
+    IfUserDirective,
+    IfUserInGroupDirective,
   ],
   providers: [
     EventManager, LocalStorageTokenStoreManager, CookieTokenStoreManager, CookieService,
diff --git a/src/stormpath/stormpath.service.ts b/src/stormpath/stormpath.service.ts
index ed5720b..604c74a 100644
--- a/src/stormpath/stormpath.service.ts
+++ b/src/stormpath/stormpath.service.ts
@@ -241,6 +241,15 @@ export class Stormpath {
       .catch(this.errorTranslator);
   }
 
+  isInGroup(authorities: any, groups: Array<any>): boolean {
+    // if at least one authority matches, allow
+    return authorities.filter(authority => this.inGroup(authority, groups)).length > 0;
+  }
+
+  private inGroup(groupName: string, groups: Array<any>): boolean {
+    return groups.filter(group => group.name == groupName).length > 0
+  };
+
   /**
    * Returns the JSON error from an HTTP response, or a generic error if the
    * response is not a JSON error
diff --git a/src/user/if-user-in-group.directive.ts b/src/user/if-user-in-group.directive.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9cf7101
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/user/if-user-in-group.directive.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+import { Directive, ElementRef, Input, Renderer, OnInit } from '@angular/core';
+import { Stormpath } from '../stormpath/index';
+import { IfUserDirective } from './if-user.directive';
+
+@Directive({
+  selector: '[ifUserInGroup]'
+})
+export class IfUserInGroupDirective extends IfUserDirective {
+  @Input() ifUserInGroup: string;
+  private authority: string[];
+
+  ngOnInit(): void {
+    this.authority = this.ifUserInGroup.replace(/\s+/g, '').split(',');
+    this.stormpath.user$.subscribe(response => this.setVisibility(response));
+  }
+
+  protected setVisibility(account: any): void {
+    if (account === false) {
+      this.setHidden();
+      // use == instead of === here because triple doesn't detect undefined
+    } else if (account && account['groups'] == null) {
+      // handle the fact that /login doesn't result groups
+      this.stormpath.getAccount().subscribe(response => {
+        return this.setVisibility(response);
+      });
+    } else {
+      let result = this.stormpath.isInGroup(this.authority, account['groups'].items);
+      super.setVisibility(result);
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/user/if-user.directive.ts b/src/user/if-user.directive.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cd50208
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/user/if-user.directive.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+import { Directive, ElementRef, Renderer, OnInit } from '@angular/core';
+import { Stormpath } from '../stormpath/index';
+
+@Directive({
+  selector: '[ifUser]'
+})
+export class IfUserDirective implements OnInit {
+
+  constructor(protected stormpath: Stormpath, protected el: ElementRef, protected renderer: Renderer) {
+  }
+
+  ngOnInit(): void {
+    this.stormpath.user$.subscribe(response => this.setVisibility(response));
+  }
+
+  protected setVisible(): void {
+    this.renderer.setElementClass(this.el.nativeElement, 'hidden', false);
+  }
+
+  protected setHidden(): void {
+    this.renderer.setElementClass(this.el.nativeElement, 'hidden', true);
+  }
+
+  protected setVisibility(result: any): void {
+    if (result) {
+      this.setVisible();
+    } else {
+      this.setHidden();
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/user/index.ts b/src/user/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1b3a851
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/user/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+export * from './if-user.directive'
+export * from './if-user-in-group.directive'