The best part is about real estate. Ask my grandma and it's great! Ask people my age and they've lost their entire fortunes, declared bankruptcy and some are still on payment plans for real estate worth 1/2 they paid for it.
Pensions, real estate, and even the stock market is not guaranteed. The best advise is to stay diversified and don't rely on one thing unless you founded it and can keep it relevant.
The best part about the property-vs-other investments is that if you look at it without the bubbles (read: still not NOW) then property values (as a whole) in North America rise almost lock-step with inflation. Even the simplest of index funds FAR outperforms.
Pensions, real estate, and even the stock market is not guaranteed. The best advise is to stay diversified and don't rely on one thing unless you founded it and can keep it relevant.