Every day, people lose hours of their lives standing in queues. For most, this is a necessity. But in the first world, they also queue to do dumb things like buy gold or get into the Louvre.

Gold! Having more than doubled in price in the past three years, now more than $US4000 ($6140) an ounce, gold has passed through the wormhole from being the safe harbour against panic to panic’s most visible expression.

Got left behind in the gold rush? People queue outside an ABC Bullion store in Sydney this week.Credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images

As this masthead and other media have reported, Sydneysiders are climbing over each other each morning to empty their wallets into a bullion shop and walk out with a few glittering grains in their pocket. A gold rush once again pulls Australian crowds. It’s a matter of time before these bullion shops start ticketing pre-booked entry slots and someone breaks in with a crane.

But here’s a tip. The gold mania has reached a point similar to when the patriarch of the Kennedy clan, Joseph, decided to exit the New York sharemarket in 1929. When his shoeshine boy was giving him stock advice, Kennedy knew to sell.

I say this as an expert investor/shoeshine boy who has made a killing on gold. A while ago, I was asked to offload a small collection of gold coins as a favour to someone. I forgot. Then I got lazy or distracted. It was a hassle. Then I forgot again. I didn’t get around to it for a year. When I finally shifted the gold, it had doubled in value. Wow, what a genius. As a fellow golden boy might say of himself, I might be the greatest genius of all time.

If this shoeshine boy can make good........

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