YW! You can power down but you get 1/13 of your locked up steem power converted back to liquid steem each week for 13 weeks, so it's not an immediate conversion. The price of steem may be higher or lower than it is now, when you get some of your steem power converted back to steem each week. Steemit Inc does have many good things coming next year, so it is possible that the steem you get back from a power down may be worth a lot more than it is now. But steem already had a very nice increase in value this year, so no one knows!

But the benefit of locked up steem power is, it powers your votes. The more steem power you have, the more of the daily reward pool you will be able to allocate to those you vote for, and the more curation rewards you will make for yourself when you vote. If you plan on being here a while and think Steemit will be here a while, then build up that steem power and you'll have your own business producing a steady income stream as you vote daily for others, in addition to any reward you may get from posts and comments up voted by others. Steemit has been a life changer for many people, and it may help many more in the future.

Best wishes to you!