How to Budget Like a Boss: Finance Expert Shares Money Tips for Black Americans

Black Americans know what it means to make a dollar stretch. But with rising rent, grocery prices, and everyday expenses eating away at paychecks, simply cutting back isn’t always enough. Living within your means doesn’t have to mean living without joy. A few smart budgeting habits can help you take control of your money instead of letting it control you.

The Root tapped personal finance expert, HBCU educator, and two-time No. 1 national bestselling author Anthony O’Neal for practical tips to help you budget like a boss. From creating a budget that works to finding extra money to save and invest, O’Neal breaks down how to take control of your finances—including one simple money move you can start today.

The Biggest Mistake Folks Make When Saving

According to O’Neal, one of the biggest mistakes people make is not fully understanding what a budget is designed to do. At its core, a good budget should:

• Know exactly where every dollar is going
• Create a financial margin between your income and expenses
• Build enough surplus to save and invest consistently

“I call it the Zero-Based Margin Budget,” O’Neal told The Root. “List your income at the very top of the budget. If you have alimony, child support, your job, your side business…heck, I even say—because it’s real—if you’re a young lady and your man is giving you allowance every single month, that’s income. List that.”

After you’ve calculated your income, you need to know exactly how much you’re spending.

He continued: “List all your expenses. Mortgage, cell phone bill, gas, groceries, eating out, apps, hair and nail appointments, anything that goes out, list it as an expense. Even investments like your 401K is an expense.”

Once you’ve listed everything coming in and everything going out, O’Neal says you’ll have a clearer picture of your finances. The goal is to create “margin”—the money left over after your expenses are covered.

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Create Margin Before You Create Wealth

After years of conducting financial evaluations, O’Neal says he’s found that many Americans have more money going out than they have coming in—or being intentionally preserved. That’s why creating this “freedom in margin” is so important.

Instead of letting every dollar disappear, O’Neal maintains that surplus should be put to work. Whether it’s a high-yield savings account, an index fund, a mutual fund, or a low-cost ETF, using your margin to save and invest is what begins the journey toward long-term financial success. According to the expert, changing your relationship with money is just as important as changing your spending habits. 

“The thing I want people to get from me is to get to a point where we’re no longer exchanging our time for money. Our money should buy back our time. We can’t do that if we’re not saving and investing, and creating a margin to save and invest.”

O’Neal says it’s time Black folks move away from relentlessly trading hours for a paycheck, and instead allow our money to work for us.

The Simple Money Leak You Can Fix Today

Sometimes the easiest way to save more isn’t making more money—it’s taking a closer look at where your money is already going. O’Neal says one of the quickest wins for your budget is cutting unnecessary subscriptions and eliminating expenses that quietly drain your wallet every month.

He recommends pulling your last three months of bank and credit card statements to identify recurring charges and start trimming the excess.

“When I did this for myself for the very first time, I found about $200 a month just in subscriptions and apps. I had HULU, Netflix, Amazon, ESPN, Peacock—to watch “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” he laughed. “When I cut out all the extra, I found about $175 in my monthly budget I put back into my account. That’s groceries,” he suggested. “That’s two tanks of gas, depending on what kind of car you drive.”

O’Neal warns against underestimating small expenses. Those small charges can quickly add up and take away money that could be used on essentials, savings, or investments. Instead, he recommends keeping only the subscriptions you truly use and cutting the ones that are simply eating away at your wallet.

What Financial Success Really Looks Like

Before becoming debt-free, building a seven-figure business, and helping millions regain control of their finances, O’Neal experienced homelessness at just 19 years old. Looking back, he says the experience completely changed his definition of financial success.

“When I looked back on why I was homeless, it wasn’t because I didn’t have the income,” O’Neal told The Root. “It was because I didn’t have the correct information on what success looked like when it came to finance.”

For O’Neal, financial freedom isn’t about looking wealthy—it’s about having the peace of mind that comes with paying your bills, weathering unexpected setbacks, and investing in your future instead of your image.

“I quickly realized that I wasn’t funding my future. I was funding my present image. I wish that in Black culture, we understood that true financial success is not looking good, it’s positioning yourself to decide to do what you want to do…where you no longer have to work two jobs, where you can go to your son or daughter’s game, after school programs, and be present in their lives,” he said. “True financial success is, ‘What do you have invested?’ and ‘How are you building for your future self?’”