You will have NFC in your future

NFC technology will definitely be in your future, whether you like it or not. NFC or Near Field Communication is, quoting from Wikipedia:

[A] set of standards for smartphones and similar devices to establish radio communication with each other by touching them together or bringing them into close proximity, usually no more than a few centimetres. Present and anticipated applications include contactless transactions, data exchange, and simplified setup of more complex communications such as Wi-Fi. Communication is also possible between an NFC device and an unpowered NFC chip, called a "tag".

Translated into English this essentially means that retailers will be using your smartphone, like a credit card is used now, to charge purchases. Rather than being speculation for the future, NFC is already in use and in fact, Google's new Nexus 7" tablet comes not only with Android 4.1 but NFC enabled. If you are worried about losing your credit card, think about losing your NFC enabled smartphone or tablet. In reality, if you did lose your smartphone or tablet there will likely be a way to lock the device, like you can with iPhones, from a distance.