Opened a new position in Ventas

I know I'm sounding a bit like a broken record, but one of my biggest investing goals over the last few months has been diversification. I've been caught horribly offsides when crude oil prices plummeted, as well more than half of my portfolio was energy related. I thought I had diversification because I had some oil, and some gas. I had some upstream, some midstream. Well, I was proven wrong as the whole energy complex went crashing with the price of Brent Crude. It was a lesson I shouldn't have had to learn, because as any good investor knows, diversification is the only free lunch. I ignored it and got killed.

But switching my energy positions now would be akin to selling at the bottom, which would have meant committing yet another cardinal sin. Instead, I've striven to 'build around' my mistake by reinvesting dividends and new cash into non-energy investments when those investments become reasonable enough.

Today I opened a new position in Ventas Inc (NYSE: VTR). Ventas is a senior-living REIT that pays a solid, growing dividend, and I'm happy to have it in my portfolio once again. I sold all shares in another account back when Ventas was a lot higher, as my journal should reflect. This is a solid business with a very long runway for growth. It is reasonably priced right here, and I get the added benefit of medical-sector diversification.