Axel Merk is the President and Chief Investment Officer of Merk Investments, manager of the Merk Funds. He is an expert on macro trends as well as an innovator in gold and currency investing. He is a sought-after speaker, contributor and author of the book, Sustainable Wealth, in which he describes how the greater economic universe works, how it might affect your finances, and how to manage those finances to seek financial stability. He founded Merk Investments in Switzerland in 1994 by pooling the investments he had been managing for his friends starting in college. In 2001 he relocated the business to California, and Merk Investments became a SEC registered investment advisory firm. In 2005 Merk Investments launched its first mutual fund, the Merk Hard Currency Fund. He holds a B.A. in Economics (magna cum laude) and a M.Sc. in Computer Science from Brown University.