Why collect medals? Well, why not? After all people collect everything from Beanie Babies to road signs. Actually, medal collecting is a little different than most collecting hobbies. 
 

Medals are symbols. They symbolize acts of heroic action, loyal service, and accomplishment. All medals tell a story and half the fun is finding the story, or even just researching the events that led to the establishment of the medal. 

Medals are a great way to introduce children to history. Kids love to hold things in their hand and telling the story of how their Grandfather earned the medal is a great way to get them interested in learning about their nation's past. 

So far these have only been 'feel good' reasons to collect, but medals can also be collected as investments. Because some medals are rare, and can be attributed to certain individuals, medals can see a significant rise in value over the years. An average medal grouping which a soldier bought, in 1945 for $10 could fetch as much as $100 or more. That is a return of 1000%. This divided over 50 years is an annual return of 5% (better than your bank account). This return becomes much higher if there are medals for valor or were awarded to personalities and could return over 8% per year (better than most stocks) if there is research and a story behind the group.