Weighing a contract offer against waiting - any advice?

A permanent role may come up, but the contract starts now. There are 11 people counting on me, so I am trying to be careful. I have 10 months of savings left. How did you handle benefits?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it last year, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.

Ask about extension likelihood and whether the team has hired contractors before.