Options
Where a card can live.
-
I
Your wallet
Always with you and easy to use. Also the most likely to be lost or taken. Good for the card you actually use.
-
II
Home, not obvious
Not the desk drawer. A box among other boxes, a book on a full shelf. Survives most burglaries, not a fire.
-
III
A bank box
Excellent against fire, theft and yourself. Poor against needing it on a Sunday.
-
IV
A trusted person
Geographically separate and survivable. Only as good as your judgement of the person and their own habits.
-
V
Work or a second home
Convenient distance, but access can change overnight when a job or a tenancy ends.
The rule
Different failures, different places.
The point of three cards is not redundancy for its own sake, it is covering different kinds of loss. A fire, a burglary and a lost coat are separate events; three cards in one home is one card against the first of them.
Pick places that fail for unrelated reasons, and never store the password with the card in any of them.
Three places
that fail differently.