You might have joined the Steem platform because of the money, but if you decide to stick around you will stay because of fo the people and Steem community.

Regardless, you need to have an understanding about what Author Reward option is best for you at the moment.

Three Options

The three Author Reward options include:

• Decline Payout - This option is rarely used. I have seen @ned decline payout. On occasion, witnesses will decline payouts for posts related to their witness updates.
• 50% SBD/ 50% SP - This is my current selection. I will explain more about why I made this choice in the next section.
• Power Up 100% - This option is great for people who do not want to be tempted to spend transferable tokens. Since all of the author rewards are invested in powering up, a user will increase their voting power.

Some Background Information

Just in case you don't know, SBD means Steem Backed Dollar and SP stands for Steem Power.

• Steem is a token that can be traded at a rate of 1 to 1 into Steem Power.
• Steem Power is what increases your ability to support other people for their quality content/community projects.
• Steem Backed Dollars is supposed to be closely related to the value of the USD (but if you were around in December 2017, you know that is not always the case).

For most of my Steem journey, I had the option to receive half of my Author Rewards as Steem Backed Dollars. Over the last few months, that has not been the case. There are calculations that determine how much SBD can be printed, and those calculations are screaming "Don't print more SBD!" (or at least for now)

So that 50% SBD payment you are supposed to receive is being paid in liquid Steem.

Why I Choose 50% SBD/ 50% SP

The answer is simple. I like the ability to be able to use SBD or Steem as a way to complete financial transactions. If always used the Power Up 100% option, then I could not buy Steem Monster packs, trade for Bitshares, or pay for services with my liquid tokens.

I like the flexibility of using my earnings in multiple ways. Now I believe that each and every one of us needs to make out own personal decisions (this is the part where I add a disclaimer saying that I am not giving financial advice and that you need to do your own research), but I see some patterns that I want to share with you.

Reasons to Power Up 100%

• Most new users should probably power up 100%. Steem Power is vital to your success on the Steem blockchain, and when you are powering up, you show other members of the community your commitment to the community. Remember that people can see your wallet. I can see what you are doing. Let me rephrase that: Everyone can see what you are doing!
• If you have been a part of the community for a while, but struggle with making good purchasing decisions then just set your Auther Rewards to Power Up 100%. Think of this as an automatic bank deposit. You make a good decision and you let it run on autopilot. This does not mean that you don't occasionally revisit the decision.

Reasons to Accept 50% SBD/ 50% SP Author Rewards

• The simplest answer is if you need Steem rewards for your income. Now if you are a new user, you will most likely struggle to earn a lot of money if you don't invest additional earnings into Steem Power.
• If the price of SBD is over $1.25 and higher than the price of Steem, I would use the 50%/50% option. Because of a small "glitch" in the Author Reward system, you can use your SBD earnings to buy a larger amount of Steem than what you would have earned on your post if you powered up 100%. This is another one of those things that I have noticed, but can't really explain why it happens. I am guessing that this "glitch" will be fixed in a later upgrade (but who knows).

Final Thoughts

As you learn more about the Steem platform and engage the Steem community it is important you learn and grow. I have been around for about 16 months and still, I have "aha moments."

I encourage you to make plans and then take steps to execute those plans. I encourage you to re-evaluate your Steem plans and goals.

Take a moment to answer the questions below to help you think about your plans for Steem payments:

1. Do you prefer Power Up 100% or 50% SDB / 50% Steem Power?
2. What is your reason for choosing the answer for question #1?
3. In 3 words, how do you describe your Steem experience?

Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to hearing from you.

@SumatraNate

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