Investors Jump On-Line to Trade Info

SANTA ANA — A few of the estimated 8,000 investors of failed First Pension Corp. in Irvine are networking via computer to vent their frustration about their missing retirement money.

Investor Irvin Starr of Hercules in Northern California said he started bringing investors together on the Prodigy network several weeks ago, and now about a dozen use personal computers to share news and anger.

“Any information shared will be appreciated,” read a Prodigy message from a beleaguered investor at 10:53 p.m. on April 22, the day First Pension filed for bankruptcy. “We all work too damn hard for our investments to line the pockets of . . . others. Sorry for the outburst, but I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it!”

First Pension client Stewart Boren of San Francisco said he sits down at his computer most evenings to chat with other investors.

“It’s great, but we need to get more people involved,” Boren said. “It would be better, though, if the trustees would share information with us on Prodigy.”

To access the network, one must be a Prodigy subscriber, then sign on and access the “Money Talk” bulletin board and then go into the topic of “brokerages.”