I'm also aiming for a fully-owned house + enough incoming money to afford a decent life, probably back in my native country (one of the former communist ones).

I'm also aiming for a fully-owned house + enough incoming money to afford a decent life, probably back in my native country (one of the former communist ones). However I currently live in Amsterdam, where the 47 m2 apartment I inhabit costs around 350k euros to buy, which is quite a bit for a matchbox in a 120 yr old house. On top of that, I suspect that in NL the age of retirement for me will be around 72, which is ridiculously late; plus, whatever pension I get will almost certainly not be enough for me to have a decent life on. The state pension here is minuscule and the private ones are a racket, like everywhere else. My point is that you can't really rely on a pension and you should act as if you won't get one (even though that's what's owed to you).