Comment by pmg102
The biggest challenge with pensions is convincing people in their 20s to invest in high risk/high return investments. This is usually the right strategy because of the long time horizon of several decades until they will need to crystallise losses/gains.
However if they see their pension balance fall in a big correction, they can panic and move to less volatile investments, thus reducing their long term gains.
You can theorize all you want but the best way to learn to cope with this is for it to happen to you so it would be great to include it in the simulation!
I think an even better option would be to show diversification. You could have some part in a higher risk volatile thing and another part that shows steadier positive growth. Get people to decided how much of each to mix. One of the most important lessons is that all your eggs don't need to be and usually should not be in one basket.