Absolutely correct. It takes a long time to amass any SP when the SBD is a dollar. People right now are getting paid 2-3 times what the normal payout would be. This is a huge bonus for authors.
Couple that with the fact that there are going to be a lot more authors on here down the road, meaning the reward pool will be spread over more people, and I foresee a day when 500 SP is considered a huge amount.
Powering up is the only way to go for now (if one can afford it).
You said it all here.
Is not easy to power up if we focus on the number of Dollars one can get from 1 SBD when one have alot of expenses to incure but all the same the wise will keep powering up for rainy days