Now that the party season is at hand, and you may be planning to host a big shindig, think about protecting yourself or your company from a huge liability bill by getting event liability insurance.

Accidents can happen at parties, especially if booze is being served, and you could get stuck with the bill if one of your guests causes damage.

With weddings and bar/bat mitzvah parties costing $20,000 and more, you can also protect deposits and get them back as long as the reason for cancellation is one of the allowable excuses in the policy. Yes, some policies even allow "cold feet" as an excuse.

Considering that you can get as much as $2 million in insurance for as little as $450, it's worth the cost to protect against a much larger liability.

Someone recently sent WalletPop a press release detailing what claimed to be one of those "eliminate your debt" strategies.

This one hinges on something called a "mortgage checking account." It's similar to a mortgage elimination scheme that proliferated in Australia a few years back and hopped onto our shores under a different name.

In this 2007 article, the Boston Globe explored what was then being called a "line-of-credit" mortgage and concluded that the scheme was more about marketing than merit.

The plan pitched to us by a company called MoneyDesktop purports to let you pay off your mortgage via a home equity line of credit (HELOC). In theory, you take out a home equity line of credit, deposit your paychecks into that line of credit instead of a checking account, and write a check paying down your mortgage in the amount you've just deposited.

Earlier this month, I warned readers not to enroll -- or encourage their children to enroll -- in for-profit colleges.

New student loan default rates from the U.S. Department Education highlights in more detail why these institutions are such a bad idea. According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of the data (subscription required), 21% of students who use federal loans to attend for-profit college go into default within three years. That compares to 7% at public four-year colleges and 16% at public two-year colleges.

As of this morning, the national debt of the US is $12.1 trillion. To put that into context, if you counted $1 every second of every minute, you would have to count for 383,434 years to reach $12.1 trillion.

It doesn't look to get any better as Congress just voted in a $447 billion spending bill in a year where revenues are down. That doesn't include the projected cost of the health care bill, tax credit extensions and other budget-altering items slated for consideration. It's clear that something has to change.

If you're a parent and have grown kids, have you ever paid off a debt of theirs?

That's a question that GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media recently posed to 1,004 adults in a survey for CreditCards.com. Two out of five adults, or 42%, said that they had paid off a debt for a grown child at some point.

Auto loans topped out the most likely to be paid (40%), with medical debt close behind (37%) and utilities (31%) following. Credit cards were next (30%), followed by student loans (29%) and the mortgage (11%). The entire story can be found here.

WalletPop's Lan Nguyen chats with Frank Armstrong -- founder of Investors Solutions and author of several books including "Save Your Retirement" (FT Press) -- on what Gen Xers and Gen Yers need to do to have a happy retirement.

Open a 401(k), but only if your company matches and the cost isn't too high. Otherwise, open your own 401(k) or IRA. Most importantly, pay down credit card debt and "rights-size" your life.

Feeling the pinch as you scan your holiday gift-giving list? You should be heading for a dollar store to get great gifts that you can dress up as fancy gifts. How much can you save? We put ourselves to the test to see what we could get for the people on our list.

Unemployment isn't a disease that needs a 12-step program, but let's face it, being broke and trying to feel festive around the holidays don't exactly go hand-in-hand. Which is why a California business coach got my attention.

Deborah Gallant normally commands big bucks for telling people what they need to do to start up a business or grow the one they already have. She has first-hand experience dealing with professionals who got the axe in the recession during the past year: Her husband was laid off from his big-deal job in finance 16 months ago and is still looking. She also coaches people who are frustrated with their job search. And she does that for free. Heck, she's even helped me for free.

Gallant runs a free group hug every Tuesday morning called the Conejo Jewish Support, held at Temple Adat Elohim in Thousand Oaks, CA. You don't have to be Jewish to attend and nobody expects you to actually cry or bare your soul. She arranges free speakers about different aspects of the job search, serves free coffee and has one rule: When you get a job (notice, she says "when" not "if") donate a few bucks from your first paycheck to the coffee kitty. The woman is Santa with a New York accent.

They have long served the professional and student demographic. Now, quick service restaurant Qdoba Mexican Grill wants to appeal to families.

The restaurant chain debut a kids meal option, and is marketing it by having a "Kids Eat Free" weekend Dec 19-20, offering one free kids' meal to children 12 and younger with an order of one regular entree, according to a press release.

"We found that parents who come to our restaurants want fresh and nutritious choices for their children," said Gary Beisler, president and CEO of Qdoba, in the press release. "And, we found that children are engaged in making healthier meal decisions when they can be creative and make their own choices."

My mom lived out the last few years of her life in a nursing home. The question, "What can we give Grandma?" was one I would hear every year about this time.

I knew that Mom loved chocolate, playing Bingo and word find puzzles. A rare debilitating disease had robbed her of her fine motor skills and her speech. So much for Bingo and puzzles. With each passing month, it became more and more difficult for her to swallow. So much for giving a box of chocolates.

Even without physical limitations, it can be a real chore figuring out what to get our elderly relatives. In my mom's case, I could buy her a new nightie and she loved getting new tops (clothes tend to get lost in a nursing home.) Another good choice seemed to be body wash that the staff would use for her shower and body lotions as the air is often dry during the winter months.

Get a free photobook from MyPublisher when you order a second copy of one paid photobook.

Use code FREEGIFT. Expires Tuesday, Dec. 15. New customers only.

The photobooks are $13-$60 depending on whether you go with the pocketbook, hardcover or deluxe hardcover. Each can hold 20-100 pages with up to 12 photos per page.

The latest you can order your free photobook and get it on time for Christmas is Dec. 20, and that means you'll have to pay for FedEx overnight.

Caveats: one per person. To get the freebie you'll need to download their photo software, which takes about three minutes.

The cash back shopping site eBates has ramped up its rebate offers for one day - today, Monday Dec. 14 -- as part of a Cyber Monday II promotion.

Which means you can save even more when you shop online. Remember, these cash back rebates can be combined with coupon codes, sales, and free shipping deals.

Here are some of the percentages you earn back in cash when you shop today on eBates:
Barnes & Noble is 10% -- up from 4%
Cost Plus World Market 6% -- up from 4%
DSW is 12% -- up from 6%
Godiva is 11% -- up from 5%
Nordstrom is 7% -- up from 3%
North Face is 12% -- up from 4%
Old Navy is 10% -- up from 2%
Sephora is 10% -- up from 4%
Snapfish by HP is 18% -- up from 10%
Walmart is 3% -- up from 1%

See the entire rebate list here. Sale ends at 11:59 p.m. today. If you are not already a member, join here. It's free.

Caveats: the downside to eBates.com is that it takes awhile to receive your money -- about 90 days. But that's better than not getting it at all.

Pop culture is poised on the precipice of a mid-season replacement lineup as networks get ready to roll out their latest offerings, hoping millions will tune into their channels. Many will watch in the hopes of sharpening their punch line delivery skills or getting a hearty chuckle.

But few viewers realize that the laughable and lovable characters we welcome into our homes once a week can actually teach us some valuable lessons about managing money and protecting our credit.

Whether they're fiscally frugal or free-spending, here's some practical advice from a few classic characters.

As a record industry executive and owner of Minty Fresh Records, Chicago's Jim Powers has proved his creativity and eye for talent time and again. He discovered the Cowboy Junkies, was one of the first to sing the praises of Liz Phair, brought the music of the Cardigans to America, and turned Ralph Covert from an aging club rocker into a kids-music phenom.

So why is a guy like Powers dabbling in the world of iPhone apps, especially those designed to sniff out beer? It turns out that Powers, a beer connoisseur, found himself intrigued by the possibility of turning a pastime passion into a viable cash cow. And so, BeerCompass was born -- an app that locates suds and pubs anywhere on the planet.

WalletPop spoke with Powers not long after BeerCompass went public to find out what inspired his sudsy smart-phone creation, and how his detour into applications has fared financially.

WalletPop: Where did the idea for BeerCompass come from? Where were you, how did the idea come to you, and what was your first impulse once the light bulb went off?

Powers: I was talking with someone who was looking for marketing ideas for an app they were making for a festival, and I blurted out the idea of a compass dedicated to finding beer ... a "beer compass." I loved the idea and thought the compass had potential, so I made one.