badbrew is right, you shouldn't move to secondary until ALL fermentation has completed, based on hydrometer readings. Then give the beer at least another week on the yeast to clean up, but unless you're adding tons of hops, fruit or other flavorings, or bulk aging for long periods of time, no secondary is really necessary. Save yourself the hassle!
Most LHBS owners were forged in a different era, when prevailing wisdom was based on a lot of hearsay from professional brewers and ingredients weren't as high quality or readily available as they are now, particularly good healthy cultured yeasts. In those days, there may have been an advantage to using a secondary on everything, but it's definitely not the case anymore. Many of us here just use a long 3-4 week primary (or whatever the beer needs based on OG and hydrometer readings) unless it's for one of the reasons I mentioned above.
As for bottling, as long as you've given the beer plenty of time (FG+a week on the yeast at minimum), as long as it tastes good you can bottle it. That said- almost all beers will be better older than younger. I'm sure everyone can agree that the last bottle in their case or the last pull from a keg is always the best. New brewers are impatient- instead of bottling too early, buy another cheap bucket and brew another batch. That always helps me from trying to drink young beer.
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