Since the question did mention debt, I could not bring myself to assume it. And any good spending plan would include paying off debt.
“Since the question did mention debt, I could not bring myself to assume it. And any good spending plan would include paying off debt.”
Your mistake is injecting a normative judgement into your answer.
The question is about a balance between income and outgo, not a policy preference about the wisdom of debt.
For a micro example of the same question, if your personal income equals your bills you have a balanced budget, whether or not you own your house outright or make monthly mortgage payments.