I'm Watching Closely As Steemit Powers Up My Retirement Fund...

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."
- C. S. Lewis -

I've been on Steemit since sometime in August, 2016.

There has been a moment or two during the last sixteen months when it looked like I might be able to "make a living" by writing on Steemit. But with the explosion of new users, the dilution of the reward pool, and the fact that I don't devote full time to Steemit, those hopes went out the window, and I became a little discouraged.

I will admit that there have been days when I've been a little jealous of some of the "top dogs." Looking at this or that account, I wonder how they could've become so wildly successful, so much more than I have. It has been especially tempting to despair when seeing "newbie" accounts that already far surpass mine in rewards.

Even so, like the tortoise in the legendary fable,

I've been consistently posting. I have some kind and faithful followers who have helped me grow my earnings from the rewards pool.

When you look at my Steemit Wallet, you'll see value that is entirely "sweat equity." Everything in that wallet has been earned by creating original content. Much has come from writing comments that have been appreciated by my readers and followers and by Steemians whose work I have commented on.

$6 STEEM? Don't Miss The Boat!
Image courtesy of Austin Chan and http://unsplash.com

Today, STEEM spiked to more than $6.00.

I consider this an impressive portent of good things to come.

Checking "General Data" on the conveniently accessible Steemit blockchain, I arrived on the Steemit scene precisely at 2016-08-06, 18:33.

Using this convenient "work-day" calculator, I find that I've been on Steemit for a total of 350 work days, not counting weekends and holidays. Assuming an eight-hour work day, that's 2800 working hours.

If I had actually been working on my Steemit blog 100% of that time, what would that translate to in terms of an hourly rate?

No doubt, cryptocurrency is extremely volatile.

Even so, the general trend is UP. It has been my practice to power up most of my Steemit earnings, and to be to the extent possible a HODLer.

STEEM has great value as a platform, as a currency, and as an instant, frictionless, no-transaction-fee medium of exchange with very low barriers to entry. As the world increasingly discovers these amazing properties of STEEM, and begins to actually use it, I believe that its value will only rise.

And so I feel that I am being very conservative when I contemplate a $5 USD value per STEEM at this moment in time. I doubt it will slump much below that level again, and if it does, it won't be for long.

If Steemit had been my full-time job ever since I began, my hourly rate at that valueation would be $25 per hour. Compare and consider that is more than three times the US federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour...

The shocking reality is that I've surely spent considerably less than full-time pursuing my Steemit career. Even when working on contests and greatly overdoing what my conscience at the time felt to be excessive, I am sure that my total devotion to Steemit has been less than a half-time effort.

My Steemit Retirement
Image courtesy of Aaron Burden and http://unsplash.com

Do you have any remaining doubts about Steemit?

Even though I am but an average Steemian, I am doing very well. How well will I be doing when STEEM really takes off and goes to the Moon? I will not at all be surprised to see STEEM rise tenfold or more from its present valueation.

Even were I to totally quit right now, stop writing, stop creating content... The value of my STEEM hodlings will be pushing toward one day making me a STEEM millionaire.

So, take heart, minnow. Don't abandon your efforts, writer. My fellow Steemian, keep snapping those photos, drawing those sketches, writing those stories. The STEEM pennies you earn today will one day be worth far more.

Grab the brass ring.

Be the tortoise in the Steemit race.

Slowly and steadily, build your own retirement.

_FIN

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Introducing: The SILVERengines proton - Image by @creatr

Thanks for your time and attention.
You are why I'm here on Steemit!
I have very eclectic interests and hope, over time, to write about them all.