Worried About a Stock Market Crash? History Says Not So Fast.

If you're a newcomer to investing, it's possible you've never encountered a deep and prolonged bear market. While there have been sharp declines, nothing compares to the turbulence of the dot-com bubble or the Great Recession. This is why it's alarming that the current artificial intelligence bubble has brought the market back to valuation levels last seen before the dot-com bubble burst.

While a severe downturn is a possibility, it's important not to let fear dominate your thinking. Here's why not to panic. Bull markets feel fantastic, but stocks don't skyrocket in a straight line; they follow a jagged pattern. And, for better or worse, those jagged patterns often include dramatic downward corrections. Bear markets are the deepest of these drawdowns, just as normal as bull markets.

But stocks don't decline forever either. To invest in stocks effectively, you must accept both the good (bull markets) and the bad (bear markets).