Michigan advisor runs for House seat 

In over three decades as a financial advisor, Diane Young has answered clients’ questions about taxes and Social Security. She’s running for Congress to influence those issues.  

“There I can actually impact policy changes,” said Young, managing partner at Arrowroot Family Office in Rochester Hills, Michigan.  

She’s seeking the Democratic nomination in Michigan’s 10th House District in the northern suburbs of Detroit. She hopes to challenge incumbent Republican Rep. John James, who first won the seat in 2022.  

A long-time Democratic fundraiser and former party candidate for state legislature and local offices, Young wants to go to Washington.  

“It’s time for me to step up,” she said in an interview when she was in the capital for candidate training at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the campaign arm of House Democrats. “I think I have a voice to represent the working-class people in our district and I have the skill set.”  

Young developed her skill set over the years as an advisor. She had to establish good relationships with her clients to know how best to help achieve their financial goals, a process similar to communicating with constituents.  

“I am a true-blue financial planner,” she said. “I do that detailed fact-finder [work]. It’s all about listening.”  

That mindset is one that’s missing now in Washington, Young said. Although Congress avoided a government shutdown just before Thanksgiving, dissension among House Republicans has stymied long-term appropriations bills. Political tension recently led to a physical altercation in the House and threats of violence at a Senate hearing.  

“On every board that I’ve been on – and I’ve served on many boards – I’m a very calm, cool, collected leader and good at moving a meeting forward while listening to stakeholders and getting to the root of the problem … and finding our common themes that we can work together on,” Young said. “We can do it. I think if we send more workhorses to Congress instead of show horses, we can get more stuff done.”  

She highlights her profession on the hustings.  

“As a financial planner for over thirty years, she knows the financial problems Michigan families face and how decisions in Washington affect our lives,” her campaign brochure states.  

Young headed what was at one time, she said, the second-largest woman-owned registered investment advisory firm in Michigan, The Athena Financial Group. It became a fiduciary-only RIA in 2016 after having operated as an independent broker-dealer since its founding in 2004.  

She sold the firm to Arrowroot in 2021 in what she said was the first “Zoom merger” in the advice sector. The principals didn’t meet face-to-face until six months after the deal was done.  

Young grew up in Romeo, Michigan, in the northern part of the district, which borders Lake St. Clair. It encompasses Warren – home to the General Motors Global Technical Center — and Sterling Heights. Stretching across parts of Macomb and Oakland counties, the population includes auto workers and executives, university professors and administrators.  

The DCCC is targeting the district in the party’s effort to take control of the House from Republicans, who hold a 221-213 advantage. Young is competing against five other Democrats in the primary, including Carl Marlinga, who lost by 1,600 votes to James in 2022.  

Young promises to protect Social Security and Medicare, streamline the tax code “to give middle-class families a break and ensure everyone pays their fair share,” defend reproductive choice, and address climate change and gun safety, according to her campaign literature.  

Many people misunderstand the wealth taxes that Democrats support, Young said. For instance, some of her clients think that proposed estate taxes would affect them when, in fact, they don’t have nearly enough assets to trigger the levies.  

“When Republicans frame it, they’ll say the Democrats want to raise taxes on the wealthy,” Young said. “Yeah, we want to do it on the extremely wealthy. But a lot of people think they’re the real wealthy. No, you’re not. You’re not even in the same universe. Having someone who can communicate that to people is really important.”    

The economic disparity in the United States is “like what can happen sometimes right before revolutions,” Young said. “We need to make sure that our wealthy citizens are investing back into our country like we used to so that we have good schools, good roads, good military, strong borders.”  

Young criticized James for being “an opportunist” who is out of touch with the district.  

“He doesn’t meet with [constituents],” she said. “He doesn’t do real town halls. He does tele town halls by conference phone. The people here need someone who really understands them. They deserve that.”  

A James spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.  

Now that she’s sold her firm and her children are grown, “the timing is really good for me to do this public service,” said Young, 58. But running for Congress presents a difficult new challenge.  

“This is the hardest thing I’ve done, and I started a business on a folding table and a phone book,” Young said. “It takes every ounce of your brain all day long. This is more time-consuming mentally and physically than anything I’ve ever done in my life. I love it, though. I love meeting the people and love learning about their businesses and hearing about their problems. I’ve been solving problems. Now I can solve different problems.”  

Touching the third rail: Politics  

Financial advisors often avoid talking about politics with their clients. They don’t want to say the wrong thing that will sour a long-term relationship or repel a prospect.  

Diane Young, managing partner at Arrowroot Family Office, can’t sidestep political conversations. She’s running for Congress as a Democrat. Rather than hurting her practice, her political activity has given it a boost.  

“My business has grown because a lot of Democrats go, ‘Oh, I didn’t know I could have a Democrat as a financial planner. I didn’t know they existed,’” Young said, adding, “Most of my personal clients are Democrats.”  

Her Republicans clients at least grudgingly accept that she’s a Democrat. 

Related Topics: Congress, House of Representatives