It would be an investment and an asset, yes. If you take a loan for the smaller house you can pay it off using the rent of the bigger house. At the end you will

It would be an investment and an asset, yes. If you take a loan for the smaller house you can pay it off using the rent of the bigger house. At the end you will have two houses. It can be a gift to your children as they do not have to struggle in life to buy a house which is a real pain. Comparing it with education, you cannot transfer education and its value. It will die with you. In IT there is a chance that your education will get outdated really soon with no value. This is similar to the housing market but atleast in this case there is a chance that the market will go up. In case of IT education there is no chance and the value will hit zero. For your retirement a house giving constant rent is I think your most valuable asset as you never know if you outlive your retirement savings.