I use the same procedure as @churchskiz. I'm surprised this basic hygiene isn't more widely practised. It certainly deserves including in any follow-up post, Jeff, given the interest this seems to have generated. @churchskiz's tip: use separate email addresses for (i) general account signups, (ii) banking & confidential app signups and (iii) correspondence with friends and family. My additional tip: don't make your (ii) and (iii) guessable from (i). In other words, don't use fred.smith.spam@gmail.com for (i) if your (ii) and (iii) are fred.smith.confidential@gmail.com and fred.smith@gmail.com

Often the business leader who "has it" is a former barbarian himself (like Belisarius) :-) But you're right. The barbarians eventually toppled both halves of the Roman Empire perhaps because they were prepared to take more risks than the incumbent.