That's the million-dollar question. Nah, the question may be important, but the answer to this question isn't worth a million dollars unless you have millions to invest already, in which case you'd better not search for the important answers in blog posts like this one. I am just a guy expressing opinions, not offering financial advice to anyone.
Speaking of a million dollars, I know someone who sometimes says "I wouldn't do this or that now, even if someone gave me one million dollars", where "this or that" are some mundane chores that nobody likes, but in the end, most people do or have others do the chores for them. Now, the dollar isn't what it used to be, but still, for one million dollars very few people in the world would refuse to do those chores, and I sometimes like to joke about that with that person. Of course, the next day or soon after, that person does the same chores, and for free (sort of).
But let's get back to our question. HIVE Power or HBD in savings? What to focus on?
Image from this post.
I'll give you two answers. One general, and one from the personal perspective.
General Answer / Situations
The general answer is: It depends.
Let's expand on that. The answer depends on what you are looking for, and what motivates you.
Do you want to help build Web3? If you understand this takes time, and it takes 13 weeks to power down completely, HIVE Power is the way.
Are you unwilling to lock assets for a long time? Then HBD in savings is for you, with its 3 days unlocking period and 20% APR (at the time of writing).
Are you interested in strategically building a stake in a "business" (Hive base layer) that potentially will have a bright future? Then HIVE Power is the answer. But you have to have a long-term approach and assume the risk that it may not take off as you expect.
Do you prefer an asset that is loosely pegged to USD, instead of a volatile one, like HIVE? Then HBD is for you.
Do you want to shape the future of Hive? Then HIVE Power is for you.
Do you prefer bonds (less risk) over stocks (more risk)? Then HBD in savings is for you.
Do you want to participate in the governance on Hive, voting proposals on the DHF, and curating content for HIVE rewards? Then, HIVE Power is for you.
Do you want a stable-ish coin without centralization risks (but with its own failsafe mechanisms which you should learn about)? HBD is your answer.
Do you want to play games on Hive? You need neither HIVE Power nor HBD for that, you need resource credits (HIVE Power gives you resource credits though, but you can receive resource credits separately)
Personal Perspective
From my personal perspective, my multi-year goal is to grow my HIVE Power. It makes sense for pretty much all of the reasons I described above.
Plus, if the Hive ecosystem grows, that will be reflected over time in the value of HIVE. If things "explode", the rate of growth would be many times more than the 20% APR offered to HBD in savings.
That being said, I also add HBD to savings. But I also withdraw from savings depending on opportunities.
Switching focus from HIVE Power to HBD and backwards also depends on the price of HIVE (will most likely switch to HBD entirely when HIVE will be above 1$).
I can see the possibility in the future after I'll reach, let's say 100k HP, to focus more on HBD. But it's still a long way to go until then. Before that time comes, I don't see myself setting a fixed goal for HBD in savings.