There's no sugarcoating it: This has been a miserable year for professional and everyday investors. Regardless of whether you're new to investing or have been putting your money to work on Wall Street for decades, short-term losses in the three major U.S. indexes have put a dent in most portfolios.

Since hitting their respective all-time highs between mid-November and the first week of January, the iconic Dow Jones Industrial Average, broad-based S&P 500, and technology-fueled Nasdaq Composite have plunged by as much as 22%, 28%, and 38%. This places all three indexes firmly in a bear market.

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Source Fool.com