Allen Wastler's Best And Worst Investments

Sometimes the best investment decisions have nothing to do with buying shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Ford (NYSE: F), or any other major corporation.

For Allen Wastler, the managing editor of CNBC.com, his best is a simple one.

“Best decision I ever made was jumping to the Internet,” Wastler told Benzinga during a recent interview.

Part 1: Allen Wastler, Managing Editor of CNBC - At the Forefront of the News

Part 2: Allen Wastler, Managing Editor of CNBC - At the Forefront of the News - Part II

“It opened doors for me both professionally but also journalistically because Internet journalism allows you to do so much more than the printed word,” Wastler said. “With a piece of Internet journalism you have the opportunity to blend in graphics, video, audio, related links – the product that you're giving to your reader is a much more textured and deep report than what you could ever do on a newspaper sheet.”

But not all of Wastler's decisions have been so wise.

“As a journalist, you're always going to make mistakes,” Wastler said, adding that it's the nature of the beast. “I can recall a couple stories I did when I was covering the Longshore union on the west coast where I was really unfair at a couple points. I got so involved in the story [that] I couldn't take a deep breath and step back and say, ‘Am I doing this the right way? Am I being fair?'

“Looking back in my career, I wish I could go… Did I slander anybody? No. But I could have done the stories differently. I really didn't have a lot of strong editing support to help me on that. I wish I had, but I didn't.”

To hear more from CNBC's Managing Editor – including his comments on CNBC's deep-dive report into the world of marijuana (a $40 billion industry!) – don't miss Part 1 or Part 2 of Benzinga's interview with Allen Wastler.