There's no sugarcoating it: Times are tough in the stock market. Inflation is high; there's talk of a coming recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq Composite, and the S&P 500 are down 15%, 30%, and 21%, respectively, at he halfway point of the year. 

All of this can seem frightening, but bear markets are as natural as the seasons. They come and go. And every prior bear market has eventually been followed by a bull market that overtook the prior high.

For investors who are willing to buy and hold, bear markets can be something of a blessing. They provide time to accumulate shares at reasonable prices. Moreover, they're indiscriminate, knocking down share prices regardless of whether a company is fundamentally sound or not.

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Source Fool.com