Good morning,
This week on The Overseas Athlete
"Winning solves everything."
That's Travis McAvene. He's coached pro basketball in eight countries, and he came back on the podcast this week for a second conversation.
Last time we talked about the $800-a-month reality of going overseas. This time he'd just won a championship in Mexico and picked up Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year.
What's changed since we first spoke is NIL. College kids are earning six figures now. Then their first overseas contract pays four or five grand a month. Travis recruits into that gap, and he's blunt about who survives it. Not the most talented. The ones who manage the money and have people at home who understand the life.
He's now running global grassroots for Big Baller Brand, building pathways from Central America to the US.
Worth your time if you know a young player weighing the jump.
Watch on YouTube:
What's moving in currency markets this week
The big moment this week was the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision.
They held rates where they were — no change. But the message that came with it was clear. More members of the committee now think rates will go higher before they come down. New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is taking a tighter stance than markets expected, and that has kept the USD well supported this week.
Here's what that means in real terms.
If you are an Australian athlete on a $400,000 USD contract and you are converting that salary home right now, you are getting around $568,000 AUD at today's rate of 0.7042. Six months ago, when the AUD was sitting closer to 0.73, that same transfer would have returned roughly $548,000 AUD. The rate moving in your favour has added around $20,000 AUD in purchasing power — without your contract changing by a single cent.
That is the number worth paying attention to. Not the press conference language. Not the interest rate decision itself. Just the rate, and what it does to your money.
The AUD is holding around 0.70 to 0.71 this week. The RBA kept Australian rates on hold at 4.35 percent on Tuesday as expected. Oil is sitting at $74 a barrel — well off the highs we saw earlier in the year — which has removed some of the inflation pressure that was pushing central banks to act more aggressively.
The pound is the quiet outperformer. UK inflation came in lower than expected this week, which means the Bank of England is in no rush to move. GBP/USD is sitting at 1.3341. For any Australian or NRL player earning in pounds and sending money home, the GBP is doing more work for you right now than the USD is.
The yen is the one to watch. USD/JPY is sitting at 160 — a level that historically makes the Japanese government uncomfortable. Any sharp move above that and you start to hear talk of intervention. For athletes in Japan or earning in yen, that adds uncertainty around the timing of transfers.
The short version this week: the AUD is holding reasonably well, oil coming off has helped ease some of the broader pressure, and if you have USD earnings to convert, the current window is more constructive than it was earlier in the year.
If you want to talk through your transfer timing or strategy, book a call below.
Also from The Overseas Athlete
In case you missed these recent episodes:
That's it for this week.
If any of this is relevant to where you are right now — a contract coming up, a transfer to manage, or just starting to think about what going overseas actually involves financially — I'm always happy to talk it through.
Chris