It's been a long time since Wall Street and everyday investors contended with such a challenging year. The growth-centric Nasdaq Composite, which was largely responsible for pushing the broader market to new heights, has lost around a third of its value. Meanwhile, the widely followed S&P 500 produced its worst first-half return in over a half-century.

While it's never any fun watching short-term, unrealized losses pile up, history has also shown that bear-market declines are the ideal opportunity for long-term investors to put their money to work.

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Source Fool.com