Former state school employee Barenbrugge paid in $104K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $1.97M in retirement

Former state school employee Karen Barenbrugge, who retired in May 2017, saved $104,180 toward a pension over 22 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Barenbrugge would collect as much as $1.97 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Barenbrugge received $41,412 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Barenbrugge will have already received $128,000 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.