Former state school employee Bailey paid in $220K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $4.51M in retirement

Former state school employee Joyce Bailey, who retired in May 2017, saved $220,002 toward a pension over 35 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Bailey would collect as much as $4.51 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Bailey received $94,872 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Bailey will have already received $293,240 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.