Many tricks (disguises, mnemonics, etc) mentioned here may be fine for non-critical stuff. However, a reasonably skilled hacker would think those cracks are child's play. A good hacker isn't sitting there staring at your passwords. They're dealing with computer programs that have complex algorithms involving complex math that does most of the work. The hackers are not trying hard at all.

Do you think nobody cares that much about your passwords? Well, they probably don't, but the hack isn't hard. The situation is your laptop or cell phone is stolen/lost. The hacker has all the time in the world at that point. Again, they're not trying hard. Their tools are doing most of the work.

I embrace that concept. I do not leave passwords exposed in any manner. If I use a system for disguising passwords, it's after I've applied some sort of password holding software program.