I've had several discussions with friends and associates about banks recently, including with my ambitious and talented young friend Lt. Corban Bates, a recent West Point graduate. Readers may remember the excellent work he has shared with me on net-net stocks in recent months. He, along with several readers, asked me what my criteria were in compiling a list of community and regional banks to buy for the long term.

A caveat or two: All lists and screens are starting points. They are where you should start your research, not end it. Also, I am not ready to buy banks yet. I think there is another shoe to drop, but I will leave it to you to make your own timing call. Naturally, I will sound a trumpet here on RealMoney when I am ready to buy the banks.

First and foremost in my laundry list of bank-stock criteria, the bank has to sell below tangible book value. Just as in any other industry, I want to buy the assets cheaply. Takeovers in the banking industry are usually done at a multiple of book value for a healthy institution. Not only does buying healthy assets at a discount give me a margin of safety, it creates tremendous upside potential because small banks will usually trade up to a small discount to the takeover multiple currently being used. I have seen the multiple of tangible book value get as high as 3 in a merger wave.

Second, the bank must have a tangible equity-to-assets ratio of at least 5%. That is the number Peter Lynch set out years ago in his book, and assuming he is a bit smarter than I am, I use that level to find banks with adequate capital. I have used this number for years, and it has worked very well over time. Higher is better with this number. The more equity relative to assets a particular bank has, the larger my

Gold prices settled Wednesday at their highest point as the dollar slumped and inflation concerns boosted demand for the metal as a hedge against rising prices.

Gold for December delivery, the most active contract, settled at $1,020.20 an ounce, up $13.90 from Tuesday's close of $1,006.30 per ounce.

December gold hit an intraday high of $1023.30 on Wednesday. That's about $10 below the highest intraday price, set on March 18, 2008, when it traded as high as $1,033.90 an ounce.

Mark Hansen, director of trading at commodities research firm CPM Group, said the weak dollar is the "main driver" of Wednesday's gold rally.

The dollar fell to a one-year low against a basket of currencies, as upbeat economic data boosted optimism about the global economic recovery and gave investors an appetite for more risky assets, such as stocks.

At the same time, gold prices are being supported by concerns that government efforts to stimulate the economy could result in a bout of inflation a few years from now. "That has given investors more of an appetite for tangible assets," Hansen said.

The inflation concerns come despite a government report that showed consumer prices remained relatively tame last month.

The Labor Department's Consumer Price Index rose 0.4% in August from the month before due to higher

Should you hold off on saving until your nonmortgage debt is paid off?

Simple math suggests it's better to get rid of debt before saving for retirement or an emergency fund. After all, if the savings rate is 1 percent and you have credit card debt at 14 percent interest, money is better spent paying down debt quickly.

But personal finance decisions are rarely so simple, and this method may not be the right choice for everybody.

"Like everything else in life, this decision is one of balance, not of absolutes," says Michael Rubin, president of Portsmouth, N.H.-based Total Candor, a provider of financial education.

Dean Barber agrees. The host of nationally syndicated talk radio program "America's Wealth Management Show" says there are pros and cons to each approach.

"You have to set your priorities ... and understand the consequences to either paying debt first or saving money first," says Barber, who is also president of the Barber Financial Group of Lenexa, Kan.

So which should come first -- paying off debt, or saving?

Paying Debt Before Saving

The notion of saving before paying high-interest debt is hard for some financial advisers to swallow, given