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For the better part of the last four years, Wall Street has handsomely rewarded optimists. Since the 2022 bear market bottomed, the timeless Dow Jones Industrial Average(^DJI-1.09%), benchmark S&P 500(^GSPC-1.82%), and tech-powered Nasdaq Composite(^IXIC-2.86%) have gained 82%, 115%, and 154%, respectively.

Long-term investors often like to think that stocks will simply rise forever. While the S&P 500 has generally risen over the decades, such increases did not come without enduring storms. Some of those storms, like the dot-com bust or the 2008 financial crisis, led to years of pain.