Former state school employee Antonio paid in $179K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $2.89M in retirement

Former state school employee Dennise Antonio, who retired in May 2016, saved $179,270 toward a pension over 26 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Antonio would collect as much as $2.89 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Antonio received $60,709 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Antonio will have already received $187,645 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.