This month I’d like to finish up my message on the three most important things about insurance: find a good agent, contracts are different and, today, sweat the big stuff.

Smart people pay for the little stuff out of pocket and insure the big stuff. You should think that way.

Little stuff includes fender benders and windblown roof tiles. Bigger stuff includes house fires and getting your car totaled. Biggest stuff includes lawsuits and accidents with uninsured motorists. Without the right insurance, the biggest stuff can break you.

Insurance companies hate claims on the little stuff because they are expensive to process and subject to fraud. Submitting several of them will get you labeled as a problem customer and raise your rates or won’t renew. Insurance companies will give you a nice discount to retain little stuff risk by choosing a high deductible.

So smart people choose the high deductible and use the nice discount to insure the biggest stuff by electing high limits, good uninsured motorist coverage and a healthy umbrella. Since the insurance company is likely to punish you for making small claims anyway, why pay for that privilege with a low deductible?

Be smart, sweat the big stuff!