Why didnt TLR take all the lerasium beads for himself?

[Gizmosowner he/him]

Just wondering since it would probably have made him at least twice as powerful as he was with just his splinter powers that he gave himself.

[+Extesian he/him]

My head-Canon is that he gave them lerasium for three reasons. 

One - normal dictator activity, you can't do it all yourself so you form alliances with people strong enough to do your enforcing of order but weak enough that they can't overthrow you. 

Two - as part of The Balance

Quote

The Balance. Is it real? We’ve almost forgotten this little bit of lore. Skaa used to talk about it, before the Collapse. Philosophers discussed it a great deal in the third and fourth centuries, but by Kelsier’s time, it was mostly a forgotten topic. But it was real. There was a physiological difference between skaa and nobility. When the Lord Ruler altered mankind to make them more capable of dealing with ash, he changed other things as well. Some groups of people—the noblemen—were created to be less fertile, but taller, stronger, and more intelligent. Others—the skaa—were made to be shorter, hardier, and to have many children. The changes were slight, however, and after a thousand years of interbreeding, the differences had largely been erased.

Hero of Ages ch25

Without allomancy the Balance could have changed too quickly, skaa revolution and such in the areas of lesser TLR control. 

Three - to spread allomancy to parts of the population for the end-game of allomancers burning atium (as actually happened). He could have burned it himself but there was a LOT of atium. I'm not actually certain he knew of that plan of Preservation's though i suspect so given his careful stockpiling of the stuff. 

[Jedal he/him]

6 minutes ago, Gizmosowner said:

Just wondering since it would probably have made him at least twice as powerful as he was with just his splinter powers that he gave himself.

Well, what would it really do? Sure, he could edit his sDNA however he liked, but to Rashek, there really would have been no practical value. He was already the most powerful person alive, why would he need more power. It would make him stronger to just give the remaining beads to other people to make himself allies and begin his empire.

[The One Who Connects he/him]

This may relate to a query I posted in the Ultimate List a few days ago about whether he became "as powerful as the Well could make him" or "as powerful as he could physically be."

To give a real answer, we know that he gave 9 of them to foreign kings that supported him, sowing the seeds of widespread Allomancy. The decision to do so was either out of the kindness of his heart , because he had a plan for the beads that involved him doing so, or someone else had a plan for them and manipulated him into following it.

(2 Hours later, after the daydream/distraction wears off.... and post)