Many investors learned a hard lesson this year. The stock market can lose a lot of value very quickly. Historically low interest rates, stimulus checks, and geopolitical conflict conspired to send the inflation rate to a 40-year high, setting in motion a market crash that erased $9 trillion in wealth through the first half of 2022.

In fact, after slipping into a bear market on Jan. 3, 2022, the S&P 500 delivered its worst first-half performance since 1970, and the broad-based index declined for three consecutive quarters. Unfortunately, it is impossible to know when the bear market will end. But investors can take solace in two facts.

First, the S&P 500 has survived more than a dozen bear markets over the last century, and each one ended in a new bull market, meaning the index eventually recouped its losses and went on to hit new highs. Second, bear markets have historically been excellent times to invest. Half of the S&P 500 index's best days in last two decades took place in bear markets, and another 34% took place in first two months of a new bull market (before it was clear that the previous bear market had ended), according to Hartford Funds.

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Source Fool.com