Peter J. Merrick, TEP®, widely known as The King of Main Street, is an internationally recognized author, cross-border specialist, commentator, and keynote speaker. For more than three decades, he has worked at the intersection of business succession, estate planning, financial sovereignty, and international cross-border risk mitigation. Peter helps business owners, professionals, families, and their trusted advisors understand the financial, legal, tax, estate, and jurisdictional pressures that can narrow choice over time. His work focuses on wealth De-Risking, continuity planning, and the disciplined preparation required to protect assets, people, and purpose before change forces important decisions. He holds the prestigious Trust and Estate Practitioner designation from the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, an internationally respected credential in the estate and trust profession.

Peter is the bestselling author of three LexisNexis textbooks on Business Succession and Estate Planning, as well as the international bestseller The King of Main Street. He has written more than 800 published articles, with commentary appearing in Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, and major professional publications. For two decades, he was a regular financial, economic, and tax commentator on one of Canada’s largest news networks. Peter also spent 18 years as a columnist for LexisNexis’ Lawyers Weekly and The Bottom Line, one of North America’s leading CPA trade publications. A sought-after educator and lecturer, he has taught at multiple universities and colleges, helping shape the next generation of financial, estate-planning, and succession professionals.

A Canadian expatriate residing in San Diego, California, Peter describes himself as a Citizen of the World. He is a licensed insurance advisor in Canada and the United States, bringing a rare cross-border perspective to families and business owners whose wealth, residency, business interests, and estate obligations span more than one jurisdiction. His work addresses the questions that arise when family relationships, ownership structures, insurance, estate plans, tax systems, and legal frameworks intersect across borders. Peter integrates life insurance and annuity solutions into broader De-Risking and continuity-planning strategies that help families identify risk, strengthen liquidity, protect choice, and prepare for generational transition with greater clarity and control.

Peter is also the co-author, with Adrian C. Spitters, of the bestselling business novel It Starts With Gold. The book is a gripping financial thriller that examines the hidden forces shaping international markets, the vulnerabilities within modern financial systems, and the importance of preparation when confidence, liquidity, and choice begin to narrow. Together, Peter and Adrian are co-founders of The Merrick Spitters Reset Report^™, an independent educational publication focused on structural financial risk, asset security, succession, and long-term wealth stewardship. Their work brings together Adrian’s experience in capital architecture and Peter’s deep expertise in succession, estate continuity, insurance, and cross-border planning.

Peter and Adrian are now developing Killing Crypto^™, a major new work comparing cryptocurrency, digital currencies, and precious metals. Building on the ideas introduced in the white paper Last Asset Standing^™, the book greatly expands the analysis of monetary systems, digital control, asset security, liquidity, jurisdictional awareness, and financial sovereignty. It examines the distinctions between cryptocurrency, state-issued digital currencies, and tangible precious metals, asking what each may mean for privacy, ownership, resilience, and individual choice in a rapidly changing financial world.

Known for bold perspectives, deep expertise, and engaging storytelling, Peter challenges conventional thinking while bringing difficult subjects back to practical human questions: What must be protected? What must be prepared? What choices must remain available? His message is clear: preparation is not prediction. It is the discipline of understanding risk early enough to preserve meaningful choice when it matters most.