Just from a basic savings perspective but it is a bit different here.
Let's say there is a 10 dollar payout after curation:
5 SBD /and 5 SBD in Steem (2 STEEM) (both at a market rate of 2.50[to make it easy])
5 SBD has a value 12.50 US /the Steem has 5 dollars.
2 years from now the hope is that Steem is ~50-100 dollar value each.
so, you have 2 steem but, with the SBD you can buy (in this scenario) 5 more.
That means that if you exchange all to steam you will have 7. That is a future price of (at 50 dollars) 350 US.
But, you need some money now to live.
Instead of living off all of the 5 SBD, live of for example, 4 and buy 1 more steem.
That means you will have 3 steem with a future value of 150 dollars and 10 dollars to spend now.
It also means that your account is growing faster and in 2 years when there is that 50 dollar steem, your vote will be quite valuable and you won't need to worry as much and can support others. It is a risk of course but, the payoff could be enormous for you. people are selling their SBDs for 2.50 when they could invest into steem and potentially have it worth 20 times that amount in the future. So, if I was in this position that I needed it, I would try my hardest to not need all of it and I would power some up for the future.
In that future, your vote would be able to sustain others on the platform todo the same, without SP, you are always going to have to work for every dollar and can't support others. This is a big part of the issue. Support is low because people aren't powering up enough to be able to support others. Currently, 100 Steem is a 2 cent vote but that is a 40 cent vote at about 50 dollar Steem. Does 4 dollars a day make a difference in your life? What about your community? Does powering one steem down for 50 dollars help? Most people only have the delegation Steemit gave them, as prices increase, that will decrease further.
People who want better futures for themselves need to start building it now and there is always risk since the future is not yet written.
I am not sure what to say because you have clarified so much in your breakdown. I have never invested in steem because... I assumed that is done in large sums and since I didn't have those then investing in steem wasn't my path. This is even as I have watched @erodedthoughts grow in ways I can't explain. He suggested it but never did I disclose my 'assumptions about large sums' to him. I wish we resteem comments because many people here don't understand this especially those looking at this site as a source of a small income. Thank you so much Taraz. Really. I appreciate this :)
No worries. Perhaps I will do a quick little post about it.
That would be awesome! Thanks :)