Former state school employee Barringer paid in $259K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $5.29M in retirement

Former state school employee Craig Barringer, who retired in July 2017, saved $258,613 toward a pension over 41 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Barringer would collect as much as $5.29 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Barringer received $111,140 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Barringer will have already received $343,522 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.