Last week, a long-time reader e-mailed a superb question: If you must choose, should you save first for retirement or save for a down payment on your first home?

Obviously, both are important. The younger you are when you start contributing to a 401(k) or IRA, the longer compounding interest will work its magic. At the same time, many of us want to own a home before we turn a certain age, get married, or have kids. And if we’re able, the money-savvy among us would like to buy our home with a substantial down payment (ideally 20 percent).

That’s no small goal.

But can you save for both retirement and a down payment at the same time? And, if you must choose, which should be your priority? The answer is, of course, complicated, and depends on some individual financial factors. But, in general, save for retirement first. [...]

Do you have a credit card that raised your interest rate within the last year? You’re not alone. Credit card companies raised nearly everybody’s APRs because as of this month, the CARD Act prohibits them from doing so again without jumping through a lot of hoops.

But once your credit card raises your APR, how can you get it to go down again? You can always apply for a new credit card with a lower rate, but you need good credit, you may not want another credit card, yadda yadda.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you your existing company would lower your APR on the card you already have? It can be done. [...]

So, you want some answers.

• On priorities: I’m 25. What should my financial priority be?
• On saving: How much should I be saving if I earn $45k?
• On spending: Can I afford that vacation next summer?

In three years I’ve written roughly a half million words (about two or three average-length books) about money. I am proud of those words; I like to believe they help readers take control of their finances every day.

Sometimes, however, I flip flop.

I don’t intentionally provide contradictory advice. I simply believe that in spite of all the numbers involved, personal finance is more art than science. I like to point out to readers there are many roads leading from A to B. Some are fast and difficult, others longer but scenic.

But many readers aren’t looking for whimsical debates on the best way to budget; readers want answers. They want somebody to tell them: “If you’re in this situation, this is what you should do, and this is why.”

I get it.

If a reader doesn’t think the advice in an article is sound, they won’t follow it. But readers certainly don’t want to be confused by myriad possible solutions to their problem.

That is why I give you the Seven Precepts to Prosper By:

1. Avoid debt unless it can provide, with certainty, a return on the money borrowed.
2. Save and invest 25 percent of your income.
3. Account for your spending.
4. Know what you value.
5. Improve yourself.
6. Keep it simple.
7. Give back.

I wanted to bring all of my own financial beliefs that I write about in various articles together in one place. Not only to showcase my own beliefs about money, but also to provide a starting point for future readers to learn what this site is all about.

I hope these precepts inspire you on your own road to financial peace whether that means being free of debt and having “enough” or climbing higher mountains of wealth. [...]

As a financial writer, I try to do one thing above all else: Make intimidating financial topics easier to understand. Sometimes I succeed, often I fail, but my goal is always the same: Make managing your money simpler.

So I am excited to review a book that does just that: Your Money Ratios: 8 Simple Tools for Financial Security by Charles Farrell, JD, LLM.

(Farrell is a Denver, CO-investment adviser who writes the “Retirement Roadmap” column for CBS Moneywatch.)

Let me be clear: There are a lot of personal finance books out there. Probably too many. And not every book is for everybody. There are investing books, get-out-of-debt books, get-rich-in-real-estate books and “total money manual” books. Your Money Ratios is none of the above. I would call this book a “road map to retirement”. Essentially, Your Money Ratios helps you figure out how much you should save for retirement and how to manage your savings, debt, investments and insurance products at every age using simple “ratios”.

But at that, it does a great job. [...]

The stress of tax time comes from organizing paperwork, crunching numbers, meeting deadlines and—oh yes—that slight but persistent possibility of having somebody go through your tax return with a magnifying glass looking for errors and omissions. I’m talking, of course, about an audit. If you’ve ever spent sleepless nights worrying about whether or not you will be audited, the following statistics will either put your mind at ease or leave you clutching for another Ambien.

These stats are taken and simplified from the Internal Revenue Services’ Fiscal Year 2009 Enforcement Results, their fuzzy way of saying audits.

• Total 2009 IRS enforcement employees: 21,059
• Total revenue collected from enforcement: $48.9 billion

• Total individual taxpayer returns filed in 2009: 138,949,670
• Field audits: 326,249
• Correspondence audits: 1,099,639
• Percentage of returns audited: 1.03 percent

For comparison, in 2000, only 0.49 percent of individual returns were audited by 20,832 enforcement employees. An increase in electronic filing is probably making it possible for the same number of employees to audit more returns. But I wonder if it’s also safe to assume that when economic times get tougher, so does tax enforcement. The less Americans earn, the more Uncle Sam needs to squeeze from those who are earning.

But here’s where this gets interesting. The more you earn, the more likely you will face an audit. [...]

If you want to get the most bang for your retirement-buck, it’s time to read up on an popular but confusing tax-saving tactic, the Roth IRA conversion.

A Roth IRA conversion allows you to pay income taxes on money you have invested tax-free in a traditional IRA this year instead of when you withdraw the money at retirement. (Because once you convert to a Roth IRA, distributions at retirement are tax-free).

Roth conversions are hot because as of Jan. 1, 2010, the IRS lifted income limitations on converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. Formerly, conversions were only available to investors with a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) of less than $100,000. Because investors who earn more than a certain amount also cannot contribute to Roth IRAs, a Roth IRA conversion presents a new opportunity to many investors to take advantage of the Roth IRA’s benefits. Additionally, there’s a special rule this year only that allows investors to recognize all of the conversion income in the 2010 tax year or split it equally between the next two tax years (2011 and 2012).

Read This First! Despite all the buzz about Roth conversions, only a relative few investors should use them. If you’re currently eligible to contribute to a Roth IRA or have a Roth 401(k) at work or you can’t contribute to a Roth but are planning on converting and using assets in your traditional IRA to pay income taxes for the conversion, stop. You probably shouldn’t convert and probably don’t need to read this.

Still curious? Okay. Before we examine exactly who should consider an IRA conversion, here’s a quick refresher of IRA basics. [...]

Say you inherit, win, or earn $3,000, $30,000, or even $300,000. Lucky you.

What should you do with a windfall of money?

You may be inclined to spend it; to buy a new ride or take the trip you’ve been longing for. The urge to splurge is normal; people are more likely to spend unanticipated money (i.e., a windfall) than anticipated money, like wages (Arkes, Joyner, et. al., 1994). Unfortunately, spending your windfall—or at least all of it—probably isn’t the best move.

Here’s a prioritized list of arguably the best ways to use a windfall. Your individual situation may dictate deviating from this list slightly, but this is solid foundation for planning how to use unexpected money. (Note: You may decide to split your windfall among a few of these goals; that’s fine.) [...]

What better way to celebrate the last day of 2009 than a retrospective? Hence, I give you 15 of the year’s best Money Under 30 articles, subjectively selected for uniqueness; popularity among readers, commenters and re-tweeters; and, of course, my own personal bias. I hope you enjoy them as much today as you did the first time!

• Choose Where You Want to Live, Then Find a Job — In one of the more personal articles I’ve written here, I examine my decision to move to Maine without a “real job”—even in the middle of a recession—and just make it work.

• How to Create a Five-Year Financial Plan — We all know that building financial security doesn’t happen overnight. That said, it’s not very easy to put money away for 40, 20, even 10 years from now. Five years is a different story. That’s why it’s so important to set a “five-year plan”.

• 23 Things Beginners Absolutely Must Know About Saving for Retirement — I’m proud of this post that contains basic but critical information about saving for retirement. This article did really well on social media sites like StumbleUpon, though I was disappointed it didn’t get more comments.

• How to Overcome a Fear of Your Finances — Does the thought of looking at your credit card statements or checking account make you anxious? Have you ever ignored financial mail because you just don’t want to deal with it? You’re not alone. This post offers tips to beat your fear and start taking control of your money.

[...]

About 75 percent of Americans have done at least a little saving for retirement. Yet only 55 percent of full-time employees in America contribute to an employer-sponsored 401(k) or 403(b) retirement plan, according to reports by the Employee Research Benefit Institute.

Although some employees choose not to contribute their employer’s 401(k) plan, other employees would love to invest in a 401(k) plan but can’t; their employer doesn’t offer one. In some cases, an employer may simply choose not to offer a 401(k) plan. Or, you may not be eligible for the plan because you either work part-time or haven’t worked long enough to qualify. [...]

The American Express Zync Card, a charge card geared towards twenty-somethings, is my most recommended credit/charge card product for anybody under 30. I have always been a big a fan of Amex charge cards (I use one myself), and the Zync Card is even better that their other charge cards because it only costs $25 a year.

So what’s the Zync Card all About?

You may have noticed that American Express has been running ads to renew interest in the product that made Amex famous to begin with—charge cards.

Basically, Amex is betting that as consumers wrestle with the recession, try to spend wisely, and face credit cards that have raised rates and slashed credit lines, Amex’s charge cards will look attractive. Why is that, exactly? Charge cards like the American Express Green, Gold or Platinum card work like credit cards, with some key differences: [...]