Last year was particularly challenging for many investors. Recession fears sent the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) and the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) tumbling into a bear market. Both indexes suffered their sharpest declines since the global financial crisis in 2008. But there's a silver lining to the downturn.

At some point, the economy will rebound and the next bull market will send the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite soaring to new highs. That means the current situation is actually a buying opportunity, and purchasing index funds that track the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite is a perfect way to capitalize.

Index funds offer the benefit of diversification across hundreds or thousands of different stocks and require far less research than individual stocks. Better yet, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite have produced double-digit returns on an annualized basis over the long term, so patient investors who regularly add money to relevant index funds could build a multimillion-dollar portfolio over three or four decades.

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Source Fool.com