The hidden money lessons in ‘Beetlejuice’

For nearly 40 years, the bio-exorcist Beetlejuice has maintained his position as the “ghost with the most.” His eponymous 1988 film spawned a cartoon series, a musical, and now a long-awaited blockbuster sequel. The original film offers delightful weirdness, pitch-dark humor, an amazing soundtrack, and memorable performances, which helps explain its enduring popularity.

But Beetlejuice is more than just spooky fun. It also offers several important financial lessons–if you’re willing to read between the lines.

‘Beetlejuice’ lesson: Read the handbook

Adam and Barbara Maitland, the sweet-natured couple at the center of the film, are surprised to realize they have died after a car accident. They are completely unprepared for life after death, especially when their beloved home is sold to the Deetz family and renovated into an unrecognizable hypermodern showcase.

The story follows the Maitlands’ bumbling efforts to scare away the Deetzes, culminating in them hiring the titular Beetlejuice.

While the audience has a great deal of sympathy for Adam and Barbara, the bureaucracy of the afterlife has no patience with them. That’s because the Maitlands, like all new arrivals, received a copy of The Handbook for the Recently Deceased.

The handbook may “read like stereo instructions,” but it does provide the Maitlands with all the information they need to navigate their new existence. But Adam and Barbara give up on reading the handbook. They are the only ghosts we see who do not carry it everywhere.

The real-world application: Always read the contract

While The Handbook for the Recently Deceased is not exactly a contract (the Maitlands had no choice about entering the afterlife), its role in Beetlejuice shows just how important it is to understand the terms and conditions of any agreement. Because saying “I didn’t know what I was agreeing to” does not negate the terms.

Just look at Elon Musk’s 2022 acquisition of Twitter, now rebranded as X. In April 2022, Musk made the unsolicited offer to purchase Twitter for $44 billion, which the board of the social media company accepted, entering into a merger agreement with the billionaire. But Musk got cold feet after signing the deal and tried to terminate the agreement a few months later–leading Twitter to sue him to enforce the agreement.

Just as Adam and Barbara’s confusion about the afterlife didn’t change the bureaucracy’s expectations of them, Musk’s misgivings about the purchase did not affect the binding nature of the agreement he had signed.

Beetlejuice lesson: Consider the source

Despite the sleazy charm of Michael Keaton’s performance as Beetlejuice, the film makes it clear this rude and crude dude is nothing more than a con artist.

The Maitlands are initially taken in by him, in part because they are desperate for help driving the Deetzes out of their home. Even after their afterlife case worker, Juno, warns them away from Beetlejuice, Adam and Barbara are willing to try his services based on his off-color advertisements.

Beetlejuice is preying on their desperation and naivete, which is also a common problem in the living world.

The real-world application: Walk away from a hard sell

Lydia, the Deetzes’ teenage daughter, offers a masterclass in recognizing a biased source. After befriending the Maitlands, she comes to the attic looking for them and finds Beetlejuice. He offers to help her find the ghost couple if she helps him, first–by saying his name three times.

He doesn’t disclose what will happen if she says his name three times, but his demeanor becomes pushier after each of the two times she does say Beetlejuice. His insistence makes Lydia skeptical of his motives, even though he offered to help her.

Feeling pressured by someone who has offered to help you should always be a red flag, just as it was for Lydia. That kind of pressure is the hallmark of a hard sell, which only ends when you walk away.

Beetlejuice lesson: Ignore rules that don’t work for you

The happy ending in Beetlejuice is the result of Barbara Maitland refusing to accept the afterlife’s definition of a successful haunting. Juno and the rest of the afterlife civil servants make it clear that the Maitlands’ only choice is to scare the Deetzes away.

But Barbara has come to care about Lydia, and she wants to figure out a way to share the house with the living family, despite there being no handbook for such an existence. And when the Maitlands and the Deetzes work together to get rid of Beetlejuice, they’re able to put her rebellious plan into place.

The real-world application: Don’t accept zero-sum thinking

Just like the Maitlands, we are often told that the only way to win is for someone else to lose. We see it in everything from political rhetoric to financial negotiations, and this kind of framing makes it much harder to imagine win-win scenarios.

When you are presented with zero-sum situations, ask why it has to be win or lose. It didn’t occur to Barbara to ask that question until she realized she wanted to stay in the house with Lydia, but her affection for the girl allowed her to question the afterlife framework she was given. When we refuse zero-sum thinking, we unleash our imagination to come up with unexpected solutions–like riding a sandworm.

Pop culture is full of surprises

A film about ghosts fighting for possession of their house may not seem like the most obvious place to learn about finance–but cultural lessons are always embedded in entertainment. Watching Beetlejuice’s antics is not just entertaining. It also teaches you the importance of reading contracts, avoiding hard sells, and rejecting zero-sum thinking.

Not bad for a guy who lived through the Black Plague and had a pretty good time during that.