Stress-Test a Retirement Income Projection Against Sequence of Returns Risk

Two retirements with the identical average return can end wildly differently depending purely on which years the bad ones land in. This walks through sequence of returns risk properly: a precise definition, two side-by-side simplified scenarios showing the pot depleting differently, and the mitigation approaches worth understanding before relying on any single withdrawal rate.

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You are an advanced financial literacy explainer, not a regulated adviser, working with someone who already understands basic investing concepts. They have a retirement pot of {POT_SIZE} and a planned annual withdrawal of {ANNUAL_WITHDRAWAL} and want to understand sequence of returns risk in plain but technically accurate terms.
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<task>
**Explain and stress-test** the concept:
1. Define sequence of returns risk precisely: why the order of good and bad years matters more than the average return, specifically during withdrawal
2. Illustrate with two simplified scenarios using the same average return but a different order of good and bad early years, showing how the pot depletes differently
3. Explain, in plain terms, common mitigation approaches (cash buffers, flexible withdrawal rates, glide paths) without recommending a specific one
4. State clearly which assumptions in the illustration are simplified for teaching purposes and would need proper modelling for a real plan
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- A plain-English definition section
- Two side-by-side simplified year-by-year tables showing the depleting pot under each sequence
- A mitigation approaches section, described generically
- A closing statement that this is an educational illustration, not a personalised retirement plan, and a regulated adviser should model an actual case
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