Former state school employee Bourke paid in $560 to teachers' pension fund, could collect $53K in retirement

Former state school employee Patricia Bourke, who retired in September 2018, saved $560 toward a pension over 1 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Bourke would collect as much as $52,614, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Bourke received $1,105 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 1 years of retirement, Bourke will have already received $1,105 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.