Helpful Tips to Talk Crypto at Your Thanksgiving Dinner

By Jurica Dujmovic

As families gather around the Thanksgiving table this year, conversations naturally flow to life updates, career changes and future aspirations.

And if your loved ones know you’ve invested in crypto, it’ll likely be a hot topic at your Thanksgiving dinner.

But don’t start sweating about a holiday interrogation. Despite Thanksgiving dinner conversations’ notorious reputation, this could be a wonderful opportunity to share your discoveries about new ways to manage and control your financial future.

If you want to take it, that is.

While Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are familiar terms to most families now, many of our loved ones still have understandable concerns or hesitations about taking their first steps into this new financial world.

So, here are some helpful ideas to help you bring up Bitcoin — or just navigate your relative’s invasive crypto questions — at your Thanksgiving celebration.

1: Consider Your Approach

Like preparing a perfect Thanksgiving turkey, helping family members move from basic awareness to confident crypto understanding is all about timing, patience and a warm approach.

Before sharing your crypto journey, take a moment to consider your family dynamics. Every family member brings their own perspective and experience to the table:

• Your older loved ones may view all their money through the lens of their long-time savings accounts, shaped by decades of trusting traditional institutions.

• Younger guests might only think of money in terms of their part-time job earnings, wondering why so much of their paycheck seems to disappear in fees and taxes.

• Your peers might be focused on traditional retirement planning, having never ventured beyond their employer-managed 401(k). The thought of navigating a complex and foreign financial system may be daunting and overwhelming to them.

These varied perspectives aren't barriers. They are opportunities to start conversations about financial empowerment at the most basic and relatable level.

2. Keep It Simple

Take it from the expert here: The best approach will be to keep things simple.

People tend to lose interest or grow defensive in response to complicated, technical ramblings. So your best bet is to begin with simple, everyday concepts.

So, instead of going off and explaining the intricate way smart contracts operate as the backbone of DeFi, try, "You know how we use banking apps to send money to each other? I've been learning about some interesting new ways to do that without using banks as middlemen."

Or perhaps, "Remember how we used to have to wait days for international money transfers and pay high fees? There's this new technology that makes it fee-free, instant and accessible to everyone."

By explaining the goal of different crypto strategies in familiar terms, you bring the murky and misunderstood crypto market to their known world.

3. Keep It Personal

The best conversations often start with shared experiences. Family members are more likely to engage when they understand how this relates to their lives.

When someone shows interest in crypto — or is even just expressing frustration with the limits of TradFi — resist the urge to dive deep into every opportunity in the crypto market.

For the cousin working part-time, you might discuss how digital payments could help them keep more of their earnings. For parents worried about retirement, you could explain how some people use digital assets as part of their long-term savings strategy — while being clear about both opportunities and risks.

4. Embrace Skepticism 

Inevitably, someone at the table might react with a mix of curiosity and skepticism: "Oh right, you're into that Bitcoin thing I keep seeing on the news. Isn't it kind of ... risky?"

You’ll likely be tempted to brush off their concern. But that does nothing to address it, so you’re unlikely to make your point successfully.

Instead, this is your chance to acknowledge their concerns while sharing your journey.

If family members express interest in learning more, be upfront about the risks and responsibilities. Share both your successes and setbacks. Your honesty about the challenges you've faced will make your enthusiasm more credible. "Yes, it can be volatile. I learned that the hard way. That's why I started small and only use money I can afford to risk while I explore these new options."

You likely won’t convince a true skeptic to go buy Bitcoin. And that shouldn’t be your goal, in any case. But this should be enough to take the wind out of any contrarian’s sails. And who knows — it may be enough to plant a seed of curiosity in someone else.

As the Thanksgiving dishes are cleared and conversations wind down, remember that financial discussions, like family relationships, are built on trust and understanding. Just as previous generations shared wisdom about survival and prosperity, you can continue this tradition by offering insights into navigating, surviving and thriving today's challenging financial landscape.

Whether your family embraces these possibilities immediately or needs time to digest them alongside the pumpkin pie, I hope you take the chance this year to share something we all should be thankful for — tools for greater financial independence in a rapidly changing world — at your holiday table.

But most of all, I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving holiday.

Best,

Jurica Dujmovic