About us


Ben Hockema, CFP®
Founder & Advisor
Ben founded Illuminate Wealth Management on January 1st, 2020. Prior to Illuminate, Ben spent over a decade at another independent RIA firm in the Chicago area, including three (3) as a shareholder. Ben’s goal in founding Illuminate was to focus on serving a smaller number of clients, providing a deeper, more personalized level of service, while continuing to adopt the rapidly changing best practices in the industry.
Ben is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Financial Planning Magazine, among others. Ben, along with his peer group he co-founded in 2012, were featured as the cover story in TD Advisor Solutions Magazine. Ben is a member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) and the XY Planning Network.
When not running Illuminate and serving clients, Ben spends time with his wife and two kids, cooking new recipes and trying to get better at golf. Ben can be found learning new things and is always excited to share his new findings.