People have a number of tricks for hanging on to their cash, ranging from the conventional wisdom of carrying only small amounts, hiding it on your person, and carrying false wallets. It is worth analyzing all of these gimmicks and looking at what makes sense and what doesn't.

Any cash hiding strategy will simply limit the amount of loss in the best case scenario. If the armed mugger demands your wallet and you keep all of your large bills in your sock then hopefully the mugger is satisfied with the contents of the wallet and goes away. If the mugger is frustrated at the amount in the wallet or isn't convinced that you don't have any more money you are still in the middle of an armed robbery.

Dividing your denominations of bills is a good idea. This prevents people from observing how much money you actually have when making normal purchases. I do not divide denominations to reduce loss, but rather to reduce my chances of being targeted. I carry my day-to-day transaction cash in one pocket, and the remainder in another.

I have considered using pre-paid credit cards for large purchases overseas (like hotel stays) as an anti-fraud measure, but it isn't generally practical for the due to the durations of my trips. For smaller amounts cash is still the best way to do face-to-face transactions.