The most I've ever had on me was a grand.

Its so much easier to carry an infinite amount of money in terms of credit. Thats the ONLY way to do it. I've had over 800 bucks taken from me over the years in credit fraud. I've yet to lose a penny. One call to AMEX and they take care of it with no questions asked. I'm a customer for life.

The trick is to never pay anything short of the full amount every month.