Credit cards

The man in front of me uses a lady’s wallet to hold his money, which surprises me a bit. I mean, I’ve seen big fat wallets filled to the point where it’s just a block of leather, but this guy is the first person who just gave up on the stereotype of what a man’s wallet look like. He spent about a minute or so with his wallet open before deciding which one to use. So, since the opportunity is there, I took a peak inside to gauge the financial world of our Jon Doe.

There are at least 8 credit cards in that wallet and several other points cards which I lost count of. No cash and a driver’s license. It is also made of fake leather. I can only imagine what a cluttered world like that feels like. Every time you buy something, you have to spend the same amount of time deciding which cards with which option to use. I’ve long ago heeded Apple’s design slogan which, incidentally coincides with my dance teacher’s slogan: “Less is more.”

I mean, I am guilty of having several different credit cards as well however, I keep them for complete different reasons. Which also means that they never shows up in my wallet. A quick peek inside my current wallet shows a bank card, a driver’s license, company access key card and one credit card. If possible, I’d like to do away with the bank card and the key card all together, but life lessons taught me two important lessons that made them stay. First, always have a backup source of money. Second, put your keys where your money is, you won’t go far with only one of them anyway.

I don’t collect points or use one of those 2% cash back cards because they are more of a lure to spend than saving money. Add that to the headache of redeeming the points, no thanks. I also, don’t like to switch my primary credit card for credit score reasons. A long history of responsible spending and paying debt is a must in great credit history. If must comes to must, I prefer merging it with a card from the same bank.

Moral of the story? You really only need 1 credit card, a second one as a backup in your life. However, if you are a financially savvy person like me, there are no rules.