Former state school employee Bowling paid in $194K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $4.14M in retirement

Former state school employee Thomas Bowling, who retired in June 2017, saved $193,732 toward a pension over 26 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Bowling would collect as much as $4.14 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Bowling received $87,102 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Bowling will have already received $269,223 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.