There's no two ways about it: This has been the most-challenging year for investors in decades. Since hitting their respective intra-day highs between mid-November and the first week of January, the timeless Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI), broad-based S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC), and growth-driven Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC), have lost as much as 22%, 26%, and 34% of their value. That places all three major U.S. stock indexes in the grips of a bear market.

Although bear markets are an excellent opportunity to put your money to work (I'll touch on this in more detail a bit later), they can also be scary. The unpredictability and velocity of moves lower during bear markets are enough to test the resolve of even the most-tenured investors.

Worse yet, there may be substantial downside still to come in the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq.

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Source Fool.com