Buzz
While it’s uncomfortable to imagine your wallet being stolen, if it ever happens, the goal is to minimize what a thief can steal from you.
As former con artist Frank Abagnale (known from Catch Me If You Can) shared with CNBC, he carries only two cards: one personal and one for business.
The fewer cards you carry, the less you’ll need to cancel or freeze if your wallet goes missing.
Abagnale avoids using debit cards because they lack the consumer protections that credit cards offer—and he recommends that we all leave our debit cards at home too.
Each time you swipe a debit card, you expose both your money and your bank account to potential risk.
Although debit cards are a convenient way to get cash, whether from an ATM or by requesting cash back at the register, they come with risks. Sure, you can always go to a bank branch, but like many Mytour readers, I can't remember the last time I stepped into one, probably years ago.
Abagnale suggests always having some cash on hand, so keep a couple of $20 bills in your wallet. You can leave your checkbook behind (unless you’re planning to write a check, in which case, put one check in your wallet beforehand), as well as other seldom-used items like your Social Security card.
The CNBC article outlines everything Abagnale recommends carrying (and not carrying), so be sure to check it out. His advice boils down to thinking like a con artist: If someone were to steal your wallet—or even just snoop through it while you’re distracted—how much information could they discover? How many accounts and credit lines could they access?
Here’s the quick and simple advice: By only carrying a few credit cards, we minimize the hassle—if they’re stolen, we only need to cancel a couple of cards instead of a whole bunch.
