In the old days (and still today, of course, in rarer cases), in the world of analogue, you'd record hot because the sound of the natural tape compression is extremely pleasing.
In the world of 16 bit digital, when digital recording first started, you needed to record hot because the noise floor was otherwise unacceptable, and it would sound awful.
However, with 24 bit digital, the noise floor is so low and the dynamic range so great (144db theoretical maximum, in reality with prosumer converters max around 110db+), there's absolutely no good reason to not leave some headroom.
The headroom will help you out in the mix! Just lowering the fader doesn't change the bit usage, it only changes the output volume. Having those extra bits will allow you to use plug-ins and even external hardware more successfully, you'll have the 'space' to push things if you need to. If you push your level right up to -1dbFS, for example, and then you add a +1.1db EQ boost on that track, guess what's just happened?
If you need your finals hot (please don't, it hurts everyone*) then kill your dynamics in the mastering. Use a limiter if you must to get things up to the ceiling. But your mix will be able to breathe much easier if you've got that recorded headroom to start with. -10 to -12 is great. Go no higher than -6 in a worst-case scenario! You have space then still to make things loud, and lots of room to make things quiet.
* visit Turn Me Up! | Bringing Dynamics Back To Music for a good cause.