My current understanding is that the pension can be paid out as a lump sum if you're:
- buying a home from Switzerland
- getting self-employed
- moving to a country that doesn't have a bilateral pension agreement with Switzerland

Now I might be completely wrong on this, please correct me if things aren't quite this simple. These three exceptions apply to EU-citizens AFAIK.

I'd be very interested in "cashing out" when I leave Switzerland, as I believe I'll be able to invest them more wisely myself. Also there's a good chance I bite the dust before my 6x:th summer. Does anyone have a good scheme for this already? Do I have to buy & immediately sell a house in Switzerland, become a carpenter for a week or temporarily relocate to Uganda in order to get my money back?