Wheaton man helps fellow seniors with their finances

During a career with McDonald's Corp. that spanned three decades, Jay Holekamp oversaw the design and construction of thousands of restaurants.

Now in retirement, the 73-year-old Wheaton resident is helping other seniors rebuild their finances.

"I do whatever is necessary to bring order to elderly people's financial lives and personal lives," said Holekamp, a straight-talking Army veteran originally from Alabama.

Holekamp is one of more than 30 people in DuPage County volunteering in the Illinois Volunteer Money Management Program. Sponsored by the Illinois Department on Aging, the program connects seniors and some younger adults with disabilities to volunteers who help them manage their finances.

DuPage has been offering the program since 1999. The county senior services department recommends clients who have been financially exploited or participate in the Community Care Program, which helps seniors stay in their homes.

Jackie Spradlin, one of the program coordinators in DuPage, said all the money management volunteers - who are vetted before being allowed to join - are detail-oriented, organized and work with clients in a nonjudgmental way.

She said Holekamp has a unique ability to go into a situation and find the problems that need to be solved.

"He's very direct," she said. "He will tell you if he sees a problem, and he will give you the opportunity to work with him to straighten it out."

Holekamp, who retired in 1999, decided to become a money management volunteer after reading about the program. He was assigned his first client in 2001 and has since helped 15 people.

Generally speaking, Holekamp said, circumstances "are not pretty" for the individuals he's assigned to help.

Many have lost a spouse. Some are estranged from their family or have no family at all. And because of a lack of planning for retirement, their lifestyle has been significantly diminished compared to when they were working.

"In many cases, they led successful middle-class lives," Holekamp said. "Now their income is rather modest. In most cases, it's a Social Security payment - perhaps a small pension."

And they almost always have "significant, crushing" credit card debt, he said.

"They are very concerned," Holekamp said. "They paid their bills all their life, and all of sudden, they can't. And they're very distressed and worried because things are out of control."

Holekamp said his job is to "bring order to chaos."

He starts by having clients keep all their mail for a month. They don't even have to open it. When the month is over, Holekamp sorts all the mail, from bills to solicitations.

"That gives me a pretty good picture of what their circumstances are," he said.

He helps them reduce expenses and sign up for state and federal programs that help seniors with utility bills. He also writes letters to banks to close the clients' credit card accounts and get them on a payback schedule they can afford.

The longest Holekamp worked with a client is 15 years. He's also worked with people for just a few months.

In almost every case, Holekamp says he's helped people stabilize their finances enough to "live a better life and be less stressed."

And that's why wants to be a volunteer in the program for as long as he can.

"I like to do it," he said. "And these folks need the help."