Former state school employee Blackburn paid in $225K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $5.04M in retirement

Former state school employee Thomas Blackburn, who retired in June 2018, saved $225,247 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, Blackburn would collect as much as $5.04 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Blackburn received $105,907 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Blackburn will have already received $327,348 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.