At what price is it worth it?

The other day I was asked by my supervisor to self-evaluate for a portion of my yearly bonus and give a percentage of what I deserve. I told her, no one deserves 100% as there is always something more that could have been done. In a series of comments today with @dswigle, I asked her based on the 120 STEEM she had earned in the last 7 days, what price value would it have to reach to be "worth it".

Now, this is a bit of a loaded question as there are other values that people value beyond just the price of the token, but I wonder people what would consider financially worth their time, if they had to evaluate on perhaps an hourly or weekly schedule. This doesn't mean what one wishes it would be worth, it doesn't mean what value would cover all of the costs - I am wondering if based on self-evaluation of effort and time put in, what people would consider financially worth it.

For example, I have 18 posts open that probably average around 1000 words each, get written daily, seven days a week. They probably take between 1 and 3 hours, so I will split the difference and go with 2 - so about 36 hours a week, but I will drop that to 30 just to make sure I am not overestimating my time spent. I also have 200+ comments a week that run alongside. I am not going to count consumption of content here.

What this comes to is essentially a full-time job and I am not the kind of person that sits around slacking, I am productive, which is why I am able to get 18000 words out a week, and I used to double that volume. In the coming seven days, I can expect (expect nothing) to get around 125 dollars worth for my efforts, which is fantastic in some places, but not in Finland. As said, there are other things to value than price of Steem. But, I do value STEEM earnings at any price.

While 125 dollars might not be much in most western countries, it gets me about 700 STEEM on the platform. Again, while the value of this might not be worth much, the potential value of it is. What potential value would make my effort worth it?

700 x 0.18 = 125
700 x 0.5 = 350
700 x 1.00 = 700
700 x 2.00 = 1400

At 2 dollars, that will be a pretty decent salary in Finland, in the mid range, and considering the time and effort put in, seems adequate.

700 x 8.00 = 5600

That is ludicrous.

However, that is what it would have been worth at the ATH and this is why for those looking to earn, for those who can't afford to buy but believe Steem can increase significantly again, the best bet is to live a life that doesn't require living off Steem earnings - which generally means, getting a job. Seems obvious, but the amount of people trying to live off Steem earnings is worrying, but I shouldn't be worried at all.

We are all grownups here.

I used to spend time thinking about and perhaps even complaining about people powering down and selling, but pretty much now, fuck it, they can create the liquidity and some trading volume on the market and potentially sell me or someone like me their STEEM cheap. Since I look long and believe price will more than recover, I have never been concerned with the dumping on the markets, even when Steemit Inc was dropping 400K a week. What I have always wanted though is for people to benefit when it hits those highs and like someone I respect once said, the best part of All Time Highs (ATH) is, everyone is up.

The reason I was thinking about "what price is worth it" today was because yesterday we found out how much loan we could take and it wasn't as much as we thought. So that means we would need some additional cash in order to upgrade. But if I were to sell some of my Steem to get that cash, what would I be willing to sell my work for?

Sure, at 8 dollars I could sell a few thousand to cover our needs and it will be fine, but if I had to sell significant amounts of my stake, would I? Probably not as it would be putting a value on my time and effort that undercuts what I think my time and effort is worth. Some people are quite happy to do this at any price it seems, which is their own pathway through Steem and life, but it needn't be mine.

Earning (and of course buying) at the lows is easier because there is less competition on the pool and the token, but as price rises that competition increases. @aggroed was talking about the future scarcity and perhaps people don't quite understand what that might look like.

For example, I am someone who values Steem Power for the utility it has on the blockchain and I wouldn't sell any if I didn't need to - which so far I haven't. But, let's say the price climbs to 5 dollars and I need 20,000 dollars, that means I would need to sell 4000 STEEM. But, if the price is 10 dollars, I would need to sell half as much. At some point, the cost of selling at one price is going to be a very heavy trade-off with the value of what having that same amount of Steem powered up could bring.

And, as the price climbs the chance of the floor increases climbs too, which means people will need to sell less to live off and be less willing to sell their stake directly. And, the higher it climbs, the less they may need each day, week or month and they will instead keep powering up a bit more, and then a bit more again.

If Steem hit 1 dollar and I sold everything I have for 75,000, is that amount more than what the value of holding it would be in 3 years from now, and, if I sold, in 3 years from now would I be able to get that amount again? Considering that it is possible to grow stake in a compounding fashion, 3 years from now would see that same 75,000 become about 120,000. In 3 years, would it be better to have sold, or will it be better to live off the curation value?

Part of the game - and we are all adults.

This is investing and while people look at it from an earnings perspective in a hand to mouth fashion, all earnings from anywhere can be seen as investment potential. Some live frugally for a time on a decent salary so that they can put more into their investment portfolio or pay their home off faster, others live to the edge or beyond their means on an identical salary.

Is it the fault of those who tighten their belts that others do not?

I have spent far too much on useless, and far too little on investments in my life - and as a result, I am playing catch up. I do not expect anyone to offer me concessions because of the position I find myself in based on the decisions I made in my past. Like everyone in this world, I can have excuses why and why not also, but how does that help?

What does help is thinking through circumstance and option (something I do openly on Steem as I think it might help some others too), developing a conversation and understanding on past, current and future conditions and potential - and then acting toward accomplishing the small steps that lead onto greater changes down the track. One of the things that I am trying to get away from is living on and beyond means, and this means belt tightening and investing what I can to add value where I can.

My time on Steem might be worth little today, and it might be worth even less in the future. Or, it could far outpace all other work I have done in my life combined considering what I have put in from a time, effort and money perspective. If it does succeed in this way, not only will I benefit, but thousands and thousands of others will too - the only ones who won't benefit much in the future are those who sold cheaply and, those who chose not to participate and generate value.

I remember when Steem was up around the 4 dollar mark people complaining about those who had bought at 7 cents and what their earnings were worth. Steem was at 10 cents not too long ago, I wonder who bought and who will complain if it rests at 4 dollars again?

As said, we are adults who make our own decisions and who must live with our circumstances of life. While some might have been very unlucky, nearly all of us have the potential to have done something in our past to improve our current position, whatever that might be. However, right now we still have options that we can take to improve our future position. Am I taking them, are you taking them?

Who's responsibility is it?

These posts are for my thought processes so that I can consider aspects and my actions so I can explore what I have done, doing and could do, what is working toward where I want to be, what is working against it and if I should, could or would change to do something else. While I can't do anything for your own reflection, I do hope that me putting these thoughts onto the chain helps you formulate your own plans for the future, in a way that supports you to have a great life.

If we do not invest in ourselves, why would anyone else invest in us?

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]