[vunderba]

You may want to check your numbers again - these figures firmly put you in the red with only 60K post tax, and additionally, you're not putting away any significant amount in savings and investments.

"We are different. This is how my family built the wealth" Followed by "Granted, we are not contributing to retirement but this won't be forever situation"

By your own admission, you aren't contributing to retirement. This is the exact opposite of "building wealth". Furthermore stating that this isn't a "forever situation" is tantamount to admitting that this COL is untenable long-term. You seem to accidentally being arguing against the very point you're trying to make.

In general, emergency savings should be able to sustain your current cost of living from between 3 and 6 months.

Your margins are razor thin and unless you have some kind of extended family that can help bail you out financially, you have almost no safety net.