<h2>Let's face Steemit is new and a little strange to the majority of us.  </h2>
<p>I know that Steem Power is very important.  Most recommend Powering Up!  But I never saw any real instructions on Powering Down.  The Whitepaper only says you get your Steem Power over 104 weeks, but doesn't go into a lot of detail.</p>
<p>So I was curious has to how Powering Down happened.  On July 15th I Powered Down.  On July 22nd I received my first payment of 35 Steem.  I wrote about it <a href="https://steemit.com/steem/@mctiller/i-powered-down-and-took-cash-and-wait-for-it-the-world-did-not-end-observations-and-what-i-learned-from-my-first-power-down">here. </a></p>
<p>@bombastic was nice enough to answer questions I had.  In the comment section.</p>
<p>I know that Powering Up is very powerful.  But I wanted to see the alternative.</p>
<h2>Here is what I learned:</h2>
<ol>
  <li>Powering Down is actually based on the amount of vests you have.  You see this when you Power Down.  If you check your profile on Steemd.com you will see how many vests you have.</li>
  <li>The amount of Steem to vests can vary.  35 and little extra Steem was deposited.  Yesterday 38.070 Steem was deposited.  The same amount of vests, but more Steem.</li>
  <li>And this maybe the most important, as long as you keep active on Steemit, posting, commenting, and upvoting you continue to earn vests.  So you're getting paid while still earning Steem Power.</li>
  <li>You can stop a Power Down.  And when you restart it you restart the whole Power Down process at week 104.</li>
</ol>
<p>So here is what my wallet looked like last night when I received the Power Down payout.  And note that the payout is less than 1% of my total Steem Power, that's because I've been active earning vests/steem power.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/07/30/C8JqxVe84bc.png" /></p>
<p>Below is a screen of my profile on Steemd.  In the blackbox you see that it shows how many vests a week I am Powering Down.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/07/30/hBvMc30dd36.png" /></p>
<p>So I started a new experiment.  I stopped the Power Down.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/07/30/0WAKgBdbff7.png" /></p>
<p>But then I started up a new Power Down.  And that new Power Down starts the 104 weekly cycle all over again.  But next week I will receive a larger Steem payout.  You'll notice that it isn't listed in Steem Power but Vests.  And that new number is larger than my previous Power Down.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/07/30/WNPFOPb7873.png" /></p>
<p><br /></p>
<h2>Thoughts on this:</h2>
<ol>
  <li><strong>Powering Down can be very financially powerful. </strong> Especially if you keep posting.  You literally could Power Down every week, thus giving yourself a weekly Steem raise.  And of course if the price of Steem is flat or goes up, your payout in US dollars should be larger every week.</li>
  <li><strong>Powering Down helps diversify my wealth.</strong>  The money I have made here on Steem has been through work.  I have not put any money into Steem.  This money will go to paying down debt.  </li>
  <li><strong>Whales are Powering Down and it doesn't seemed to have killed the price of Steem.</strong>  Yes, Steem is below $3 at the moment.  But when I started on Steemit, the price of Steem was 20 cents.</li>
</ol>
<p>If you need the money, Powering Down can be very useful tool.  Don't be afraid to use it.</p>
<p><br /></p>