Don't Get Stuck in the Money Room

Juan Amaya and Prop Movie Money product (WSJ)

There's nothing like the sense of excitement at the sight and feel of paper money, especially when one had so little of it in childhood. But enough about me.

One way to de-sensitize the emotional reaction to cash is to immerse oneself in it. It's unnecessary to have access to the real thing for the "treatment" to work, because fake money will do.

There is a space in the Atlanta office of RJR Props that workers call the money room.

Along one wall, about 20 feet of shelves hold a buffet of prop money, in stacks, bundles, cubes, rolls and other arrangements.

When outsiders enter the money room, they usually burst out laughing, said Rich “RJ” Rappaport, the company’s president. “It creates a very deep emotional reaction from everyone,” he said. “Well, except me. I’m ruined.”

“You’ve been around hundreds of millions of dollars in fake money,” he explained, “so it just completely loses its sense of wonder.”

Rappaport says that being more aware of money’s effect could put you in a better mindset for thinking about its place in your life.

He feels rich because he has a spouse, children, a house, a car and food. “To me, that’s everything,” he said. Meanwhile, it seems to him like many other people are, in a sense, stuck in the money room, marveling at the stacks.

It's easy for oldsters who are done with the making-it phase of their lives to advise younger, struggling folks that money isn't that important. To be perfectly honest, my younger self would have listened with half an ear. Just don't think it's all important. Don't get stuck in the money room.