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Julie (00:05):

Welcome to the Risk Rundown, growing Pains, and why growing up means growing exposures for the insurance industry. But first and foremost, importantly, I'd like to introduce my new co-host, the Extraordinary Tyler, A wonderful colleague and, more importantly, a wonderful friend. So welcome to The Risk Rundown, Tyler,

Tyler (00:30):

Julie. Boy, that's quite the introduction. Thank you.

Julie (00:33):

Yeah, well, you know what? We talked yesterday, you gave me all the pointers. You're paying me to say that I think

Tyler (00:40):

Absolutely

Julie (00:42):

No, but in all honestly, thank you so much for joining me today. I think that this is probably a topic close and near and dear for both of us. We both have children, and this is something that we are, you are in the midst of at the moment. I have kind of gone through that stage already, but I would love for our viewers to kind of get some insights about what the exposures are, what the challenges are, and what we as parents should be looking out for when it comes to protecting our insurance coverages or our insurance exposures, and protecting our assets from any kind of liability or anything that our kids might be getting themselves into. So with that being said, I would love to get your thoughts on a few things and the different stages of life.

Tyler (01:37):

Well, thank you, Julie. It's interesting. Before insurance, believe it or not, I was a dad and I'm still a dad, and this past year was interesting because I had three kids in three different stages of their life. I've got one in college, I've got one that just graduated high school, and then I have one in middle school. And so each three are in different stages of their lives and have different exposures. Oldest one being in college, what does that mean When they start getting apartments, cars, roommates start exploring their independence a little bit. Obviously that's scary as a parent, exciting for a kid, my high schooler who just had graduation, we just had felt like a months long of graduation parties at different homes, different parents, different environments, and what exposures that had. And then a 13-year-old who is on social media quite a bit, what does that mean as a parent for their social media profile? What are they posting? Who are they talking about? What things are happening on social media? As we've kind of dug into it this past year, some genuine concern as a parent, what our kids are being faced, whether it's bullying, whether it's talking about individuals that once it's online, it's memorialized forever. And I don't think a lot of people realize that. So trying to practice online hygiene with their teenagers needs to start at an early age because they're getting exposed at an earlier age than ever before.

Julie (03:11):

Well, and the thing is, is that, I mean, it's not necessarily just social media and it's car accidents. It is when they're away at college, and not that my kids had parties or anything at college, but if they have parties at college or if they let their roommates borrow their vehicle, and I think that it doesn't matter if they're boys or girls, the exposure is still the same and the risks are still the same. And to your point, I don't think a lot of parents realize that ultimately, at the end of the day, if they're members of the household that comes back on our insurance, the

Tyler (03:51):

Number one question I always ask a client when we're first introduced to 'em, the first question I ask 'em, they say, how much liability should I get? What is my exposure? The first question is, do you have teenage drivers? That is the very first question I ask them because I think a lot of that determines on how much liability you really need. The more teenage drivers you have, the more exposure you have as a family. And even as your kids go away to college, you still have that same level of exposure.

Julie (04:20):

And I think I probably mentioned this on a previous podcast, but your kids don't even have to be doing anything bad, and there's still the exposure because of the inexperience. My son got a really bad car accident, not because he was texting and driving, not because he was being reckless, but just because of the inexperience that he'd only been driving for six months and he panicked because he didn't know what to do. Just the pure inexperience of driving or just the life experiences sometimes can pose a risk that is completely unforeseen. And so it's those types of things. It's when your kid goes off to college and they're renting an apartment offsite, is that apartment in their name? Is it in the parent's name? And who has the liability for it and all who the content's covered. There's so many different aspects of as kids get older and the complicated issues that come along with it, that that's when people should be reaching out to their insurance agent just to make sure if something is covered or if it's not.

Tyler (05:28):

Yeah. So number one, limit of liability. How much liability do I need? Again, I don't necessarily think it's strictly on net worth. I think it's much more on exposure and what stage of life you're currently in with your children. So that's number one, looking at what your exposures are as a high net worth individual. Number two, the positive thing with the liability policies that we put in place is that there's an extension for that policy if your kids are away to college. So if they're away at school, that liability is going to extend to where they are. Then the follow up question that is like when should they get their own insurance policy? You and I discussed this yesterday, when is a good time for your child to get their own auto insurance policy to get their own excess liability policy? And the answer that we came up with is that when they're on their own, when they're out of the household, they've got their own job. The car needs to be titled and registered under their name, and they need a separate policy outside of you. Now, we see a lot of parents, they extend that for as long as they can with their children. I'm all about getting your children on their own two feet with those life experiences and getting their own auto policy, their own renter's policy, and their own excess liability policy as soon as possible.

Julie (06:57):

Well, and plus honestly, not only does it helps protect the parents with the exposure, but also it helps them build their independence and their credit and all that demo kind of stuff as well. So I'm going to switch gears for a minute because we have another hot topic that you and I discussed yesterday that is a thorn in our side sometimes, and that is social media.

Tyler (07:21):

Oh, man.

Julie (07:23):

And it's hard because my kids are at the age that social media was and Snapchat and Insta and all that stuff. Now it's TikTok that was just getting popular when my kids were kind of in the midst of getting onto social media and getting their cell phones and that kind of stuff. And it's hard to be able to monitor that kind of stuff as parents because kids are smart and they have a tendency to hide that kind of stuff if they don't want us to see it. They're smarter than us sometimes.

Tyler (07:54):

Yeah, we talked about this because we didn't grow up with social media. I mean, we still had,

Julie (08:00):

By the way, thank goodness we didn't grow up with social media.

Tyler (08:03):

Imagine the trouble we would've been right? But even the social media platforms that we had just 10 years ago, everything was on Facebook. I don't think my kids even have Facebook accounts and even Instagram, which is the next one is—I don't think my kids even do much on Instagram. A lot of it is through Snapchat, and they are unbelievably smarter than we are when it comes to technology and covering their tracks and what have you. But understanding, we just had a very lengthy conversation with our 13-year-old this past weekend about what you're writing, what you're putting out there on the internet, understanding that that stuff all has repercussions later on. It's very hard for a 13-year-old to understand that what they do now has impacts later on in life, but also just talking about the issue with cyberbullying or even just making snide remarks about an individual. And we're starting to see, I was actually doing a little bit of research last night of several lawsuits that have come up just in the last year or two from cyberbullying, but my gosh, we got to practice better online hygiene and have those conversations with it. And listen, there's YouTube videos that you can watch, talk to your child on how to best protect themselves and understand what they should and should not be saying in these platforms. And I can't say with a hundred percent accuracy that a 13-year-old is going to take all that stuff seriously, but that's something better than nothing.

Julie (09:36):

We were even just talking the other day about how adults will say stuff on social media that they shouldn't be saying, right? And how now liability insurance companies are now sometimes excluding certain types of coverages and certain types of topics on liability policies because of the severity of the lawsuits

Tyler (09:58):

Just in the last couple of years with the hypersensitive environment that we're in, we're starting to see political exclusions on liability policy. So not even for children, but for adults, if they're active online posting, doesn't matter on which side of the line, if you're posting, you're active politically, some of those things that you say and do in a public setting can come back as a potential lawsuit, and the carriers don't want that exposure. So they'll exclude political talk and things that can come from political talk as excluded on your policy. What does that mean? That means that if you are sued, the lawsuit, the litigation, the getting an attorney to protect you and defend you, that defense cost is going to be on your own. And that defense cost can add up very, very quickly.

Julie (10:53):

Shoot, even just a Yelp review, a bad Yelp review.

Tyler (10:57):

This is not unique. This is something that, and again, a very highly litigious environment that is a byproduct of free speech. People will take advantage of that

Julie (11:07):

Free speech. Also, you need responsibility with free speech, right? And that's what I think. That's where, honestly, that's where we can start teaching the next generation about how to be responsible with that free speech.

Tyler (11:18):

I mean, everything is being recorded. Everything you're doing saying even this podcast right here, right? It's being recorded, but everyone's got a camera in their hands 24 7. So even if you're not on Instagram or TikTok, doing a little bit of a dance, things that you're saying could be recorded and uploaded into a social media platform even without your consent if you're in a public place. And just be aware of your behaviors and that.

Julie (11:45):

Tyler, are you doing TikTok dances?

Tyler (11:48):

You doing TikTok dance given out how to do dance? My stuff hasn't been legal since the eighties. I do do bust it out once in a while with my kids.

Julie (11:55):

You got the robot, you got

Tyler (11:57):

The eighties called

Julie (11:57):

Cabbage patch. So we get questions all the time from clients. Is it covered? Well, it may be or it may not be. It might be a little complicated. All right, Tyler, your daughter borrow a car to run an errand and gets in a car accident. What issues are you facing as her parent,

Tyler (12:15):

The car accident?

Julie (12:16):

Is it covered or is it complicated?

Tyler (12:18):

Does the roommate actually have coverage on their vehicle and is there permissive use involved? There's probably coverage that are in place, and if they don't, then the coverage pre extended from our own automobile policy, at least from a liability perspective. When it comes to repairing the vehicle, again, depends if that vehicle has property coverage on it or not. So Julie, your son posts something on social media and they are now a negative review about a service or a product that they had, and that service is now coming after 'em for that review covered.

Julie (12:56):

That is so complicated. That very well could be covered, but it's very complicated because it depends on the excess liability policy of what was actually said and what the allegations are from the business if they're going out of business, and how much that they're settling form was a defamation of character. Was it true, was it not? So it very well could be covered, but it's a very complicated scenario, one that no parent wants to be involved in. For sure.

Tyler (13:25):

We talked a lot about scenarios and situations that are pretty scary for parents and for children. So let's follow up with the risk mitigation aspect of it. What can we do as parents to protect our children from themselves, and what kind of things can we do as parents to prevent these kind of exposures and losses from occurring?

Julie (13:46):

So it kind of all depends. The first and foremost thing that we really need to do as parents is educate our children from a very early age, you were just talking about your 13-year-old and how you're having to educate her about social media and posting things. It's depending if it's social media, if it's talking about going way to college and having parties, or is it just safe driving? I think the common theme in all of that is being completely transparent with our kids, asking them to be completely transparent with us, knowing who they're surrounding themselves with. There's a lot of different things that we as parents need to do, which I think can sometimes be parenting 1 0 1, but when it comes to insurance, we need to make sure that we're notifying our insurance agent. And as parents, we need to make sure that, and it's kind of weird, I'm talking about as a parent, but as an insurance agent, I need to notify myself about different things that are happening in our family dynamic and what our kids are doing and the vehicles that they're driving and where they're living. So those types of things, we just need to make sure that are being covered underneath the insurance contract and the insurance policies that we have.

Tyler (14:59):

I was thinking we could just invest in a lot of bubble wrap. Let's just bubble wrap our kids and send 'em out into the world and see what happens. Right, exactly.

Julie (15:06):

Take the phones away. Take the cars away. It, it's perfectly fine.

Thank you, Tyler, for helping me. As probably many people out there know, this is really a difficult conversation to have with your children sometimes, and so to be able to be proactive on how to have these conversations and what to do on the insurance policies is critical. So I appreciate you co-hosting with me on Growing Pains. The rest rundown.

Tyler (15:34):

Well, my pleasure, Julie. It's important that we have these conversations, but more importantly, we're navigating this together, right? Please comment, share, let us know what's going on. This is a team effort. It's a village that we're a village component here, that we're trying to raise our children together. So whatever you guys can add would be beneficial. Thank you.

00:05 - Introducing Co-Host Tyler Banks
Julie welcomes Tyler as the new co-host and sets the stage for a discussion on parenting, insurance exposures, and liability concerns.

01:37 - Different life stages = different risks
Tyler reflects on raising chidren in different age groups, and how each stage brings unique exposures, from driving to social media.

03:11 - Teen drivers and liability Concerns
Julie and Tyler discuss the heightened risks of new drivers, the importance of liability coverage, and how inexperience alone can lead to costly accidents.

04:20 - When Do children need their own insurance policies
A conversation on when children should transition to their own auto, renters, and liability policies — and how this shift helps parents reduce exposure while teaching independence.

06:57 - Social media risks for teens
The hosts explore the dangers of online activity, from cyberbullying to permanent digital footprints, and why early education on digital hygiene is essential.

09:36 - Liability exclusions in today’s insurance market
Emerging exclusions in liability policies — from political commentary to online reviews — and how these exclusions affect both adults and children.

12:15 -  Real-world scenarios: Covered or Complicated?
Julie and Tyler walk through examples such as car accidents with borrowed vehicles or negative online reviews, showing how coverage can be complicated.

13:46 - Risk mitigation strategies for parents
Practical steps parents can take — from transparency with children to proactive communication with insurance advisors — to reduce exposure.

15:34 - Closing thoughts: How to approach to approach risk as a parent
The episode closes with a reminder that protecting children is both a family and community effort, with proactive planning as the best safeguard.