Collectibles have been a huge thing for as long as I can remember. My grandmother had cabinets full of costume jewelry and shelves full of old books. It does not matter what it is, there is always someone around who collects it.

I remember a television program in which a man was fascinated by macaroni and cheese boxes. He collected over 100,000 of these boxes from around the globe, covering several different eras. Although this wouldn't necessarily constitute as profitable collectibles, this man clearly found value in his macaroni boxes.

People start collecting items for many different reasons. Maybe they talked about how much they liked owls, and this caused family and friends to bring them items with owls on them back from vacation, as gifts, etc.

People collect things for different reasons: some for remembrances of their youth (playthings and figurines) and others for their interest and devotion to certain brands like Pepsi or Barbie -- and any item with a Coca-Cola history can be considered a collectible with profit potential.

Certain collectibles will never lose value and become highly sought after by collectors. The first principle of good collecting is that first and foremost, it should be something that is valuable to you and will bring you joy to own.

Be careful if you start collecting the trendy or popular items of the day; you could end up knee deep in a bunch of "stuff" that you can't even give away, let alone sell. A promise of future reward (cash) should only be your secondary purpose in obtaining collectibles.

Collectibles as in an investment is a pretty tricky because, as with so many collecting trends nowadays, the value of your collectible may never increase. So, if you decide to buy into a trend, re-sell it when you can assure yourself a profit. Only collect what you can live with, as there's no guarantee that your collectible will sell and you might need to be prepared to live with what you bought.