Looking for some advice on front end/backend user authentication

I'm running a mock expressjs server in the back, and ember (ember-simple-auth) on the front with the ember-simple-auth-token addon. I'm using JWT tokens. I'm trying to decide whats the best way to send my user information. Usually when the user submits their credentials I create a new token, store a copy of it in the database (I'm using mongodb), send it to the frontend and then use the token to fetch information user information. I have a /auth/token (which authenticates and sends the token, makes a copy and stores it in the database) & /current_user route which gets called on the initial login, which uses the token and fetches the user info.

Is it better to simply send the user info in the initial payload of the token over having a separate route? Should I be storing a copy in the database in order to do a comparison and retrieve user information?

Also what are the advantages of a token refresh?