My trigger for this is a recent article I read . It explained that in the USA you can tap into your pension pot to buy an investment property without any penalties (called the 401k in the US).
This is not something that can be done across most countries within Europe. But you can make a decision not to put money into a pension and instead buy an investment property.
This effectively means the decision needs to be made much earlier (i.e. before you start putting money into a pension), intentionally not put money into a pension and instead build up a pile of cash that you will use for a property purchase. Continue reading Using a property instead of a pension – is it wise?