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SALT LAKE CITY -- Hundreds of women will gather at the Salt Palace Convention Center Thursday to talk about money, but three will be singled out at the "Smart Women Smart Money" conference.
Melody Hillam, a stay-at-home mother of five, entered the Imagine a Happier You financial makeover contest and was one of three women to win.
"We've always seemed to be barely making it, barely getting by from paycheck to paycheck, and there are things that need done around the house," Hillam said.
Deseret News:
DMC selects 3 women for financial makeover
Deseret Media Companies and its partners selected three women from a field of more than 500 applicants. Each woman will be closely mentored for one year by financial experts in the area of her greatest challenge.Hillam, who won in the budgeting category, wants what so many women want: more security for her children and less stress about money. She admits she doesn't know where the money is going.
"We joke that maybe somebody's breaking into our bank account and taking it, but I know it mostly falls on me because I'm the spender," she said.
Stephanie Leavitt is a working mother of three who was chosen in the investing category. Leavitt says she is halfway through her career and feels it's not too late to do something about her money.
"If I look back at the end of the year and I've been able to form a habit of saving, that will be a victory," she said. "If I have the vocabulary and the understanding of the tools of investing, that will be a victory. I want to get in the driver's seat with my money."
Sandra Cameron, mother of two and part-time flight attendant, says she entered the Imagine a Happier You contest because she needed some guidance in paying off credit card debt.
"I've been thinking for so long, ‘This is such a mess,' and I just have to get this fixed, like I can't keep doing this the way we're doing it," she said.
Cameron was chosen for the debt makeover.
"I can get someone who knows what they're doing to kind of look at what I'm doing and say, 'Stop doing that," she said.
While there are only three women selected to go through the year's financial makeover, there will be thousands of winners.
Women everywhere are invited to follow the progress of these brave three on the website www.imagineahappieryou.com.
The three women will be formally introduced Thursday at the "Smart Women Smart Money" conference, which is free to the public at the Salt Palace.
E-mail: adickson@ksl.com
