In terms of CB, my understanding was it was being forzen for 3 years. There has been some talk this week or it being looked at again but it seems that [fingers crossed] they might look at stopping it when your child goes to secondary school. All the signs are it'll stay for young children.
the issue here is, unlike tax credits, CB is not a benefit as such, but a tax refund paid to the mother. If they means tested it, it would mean a working mum might lose it but a millionaire's stay at home wife would still get it, as it's nothing to do with dads, IYSWIM. So, IMO, they won't means test it.
Like you becs I will lose a very small tax credit sum next yr but the CB goes towards C's nursery fees.
Pensions....
Not an expert but my pension is one of the reasons I work FT. DP has no pension really, although hopes his business will be worth enough to sell on retirement. i have a defined salary pension atm, and 2 other deferred pensions from previous employment at blue chip companies, so we're hoping this will be enough. Does mean even going to 4 days a week would result in a large drop in pension, so can't be done.
I know it's not an exciting topic, but even a small contribution will bring in something on retirement. The state pension is currently about £7,000 a year (I think), so even if you can't afford to pay much in, even £20 a month will result in something.
Share-based savings have always outperformed other investments, even with market crashes. A good fund will start to move shares into cash as retirement approaches to remove risk.
Becaroo, I would always go for an NHS pension. You simply cannot get anywhere near the benefits with a private one. It will reduce your take home pay but the NHS contributions are really valuable and you would have to pay hundreds a month to match it yourself privately.
I know C will get her hands on the CTF money at 18 but I hope to bring her up to understand about £££ and if she needs it for uni, I'd be glad if she spent it on that.