When SR5 was being designed, one of the things we wanted to do was make Edge more dynamic. In many games, Edge got hoarded until the end of the session, because players weren't expecting it to refresh until the next game session. This, to us, was boring, because edge is fun.
So one of the things we did was take the "personal rewards" from Karma and move them to edge... So now clever strategy or humor or whatever should earn you an edge refresh instead of an extra point of karma. It also means you can earn these awards multiple times in a game session, potentially. This encourages players to be funny, spontaneous, and creative at the table, and encourages them to spend edge as well.
The downside is that this means that Missions awards were effected some as well, since we use the base rules for our award guidelines. Most Missions should net between 6 and 8 Karma now (6 being for an easier-average Mission, 7-8 being for more difficult and challenging Missions).
That said, something we're considering implementing is a Nuyen <--> Karma exchange rate, and rules for using (and not abusing) it. It's up in the air and may not happen if we can't find a spot we like, but if it goes through would alleviate some problems certain character types have.
Bull