By now, many of us have heard that we are in a bear market.  Last week, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index registered a drop of more than 20% from a recent high - the technical definition of a bear.  What does it mean?  How long do bear markets last?   How should we "play" the bear?

I'm going to suggest things are not as bad as they may seem.  I will show that stocks have always come back - though not necessarily quickly and not without pain.  Of course, this time may be different; but, I will assume that things will recover at some point.

I look back at average lengths and depths of bear markets.  Averages, of course, are just that - our current experience could be much worse or much better than average.

I will suggest using the "Four R's":  Relax, Review, Re-Balance, Repeat.