InvestmentNews reporter joining the industry she covers

Darla Mercado, who writes about retirement and insurance for InvestmentNews, is leaving the publication to work for the Pension Resource Institute, an ERISA compliance consulting firm that works with registered investment advisory firms and broker-dealers.

In an email to Talking Biz News, Mercado writes:

My duties there include driving the marketing and training effort for a new plan governance tool, lead the firm’s social media strategies and write articles that will keep the firm’s clients aware of upcoming legislative and regulatory developments — namely the Labor Department’s fiduciary proposal.

My decision to leave InvestmentNews is part of a longer term career plan. I’m going through the coursework for my Certificate in Financial Planning at NYU’s School of Professional Studies, with the end-goal of becoming a retirement plan adviser. After covering retirement at InvestmentNews for nine years — and spending the same amount of time as a participant in Crain’s retirement plan — it’s become abundantly clear to me that the 401(k) space is where advisers can be most effective in helping regular people get closer to financial security in retirement.

In fact, if you do the job just right, as a retirement plan adviser, you might even be able to help them straighten up their personal finances via financial wellness programs.

Mercado started her career at InvestmentNews as an intern in 2006. Prior to working at InvestmentNews, she was an intern at Supermarket News and the Bronx Times. Mercado, a Bronx native, obtained her bachelor’s in English at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and her master’s in journalism at New York University.