Purse-pective: What your wallet says about you

Do you struggle to find things in your wallet? Or are you super organised? Here’s what that says about your personality

This is not one of those “What’s in my bag?” prompts. You know those videos: Some impeccably styled influencer shows off her LV Neverfull, pulls out the $55 Chanel hand cream she says can’t survive without, then claims to write in her Smythson journal every day. Except that she isn’t carrying a pen in that bag.

In a cashless world, owning a money clip means you have smartly diversified storage. If the clip’s just for carefully-arranged bills, there’s probably a separate one for business and for credit cards. (Shutterstock)

Forget bags. A purse or wallet is more intimate, less likely to be replaced often, and tends to reveal more about the owner than they’d like to admit. See which description hits closest to home.

• The compact bi-fold.

  A few cards, ID, licenses, money (arranged in descending order), and no room for excess. It indicates that the owner is probably disciplined, organised and appreciates the value of a good audit every now and then. They’re also likely to be in control of their finances, and have got life largely figured out. Teach us, master!
• 
  The continental clutch.

  Aka, the folio wallet, but best known as the Mom Purse. The elongated style was introduced so women could carry chequebooks without having to fold them. Users are likely to be fashionable older women, running 40 errands in a day. They have no time for your nonsense. They’ll have a trendy handbag for every occasion. But they’ll carry same clutch, because it holds all their secrets. Plus, there’s also a perfume sample, a Band-Aid and a safety pin, just in case.
• The velcro pouch.

  The owner is nine years old.
• The smart wallet.

  It has an RIFD blocker, yes. But it also has a location tracker in case of theft or being misplaced. There’s a slim battery for emergency phone charging, a UPI QR sticker, and a remote selfie button. People who buy smart wallets have likely already tried smart-everything-else: Watches, fitness trackers, business-card readers. They firmly believe tech can change the world, their world.
• 
  The bulging wraparound.

  No one should have to fish through 10 receipts, nine passport photos, a fraying rakhi, a lucky ₹20 coin, and a condom that made it through Covid, to find change for ₹200. Unorganised wallets point to a life in disarray. They serve the past, not the present. And they rarely go unnoticed.
• The slim slotter.

  No flaps, no zips, no coin case, no frippery. Just slots, front and back, for cards and a few currency notes. Anyone this minimalist is aiming for speed, not convenience, and doesn’t appreciate wiggle room. They’ll have zero bandwidth to try out new ideas. They never chill.
• The designer trifold.

  Big logo, trendy style, credit cards in every slot, frequent-flier info in the ID window, euros and dollars mixed up with local currency. The wealth on display is so obvious, it’s suspicious. Respect the hustle, but be warned: Anyone trying that hard to impress is probably exaggerating other aspects of their lives too.
• The money clip.

  In a world going cashless, pulling out a money clip only means one thing: The user has diversified their storage. If the clip’s just for bills, there’s probably a separate holder for business cards, another for credit cards. There’s a receptacle somewhere for IDs, insurance information and licenses. It means the user is flexible, organised, and discreet. And is protected against theft or loss. All good qualities in an emergency.
• The wallet-less.

  . Oops. They’ve left their wallet in the car, or in the office, or in the other pocket. Their new credit card isn’t activated yet. They can’t pay, because they only have “big notes”. They keep forgetting their GPay pin. They’ll pay next time. Some wallets reveal more by their absence than their presence.