Former state school employee Cooper paid in $245K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $5.18M in retirement

Former state school employee Kevin Cooper, who retired in June 2017, saved $245,425 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, Cooper would collect as much as $5.18 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Cooper received $108,927 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Cooper will have already received $336,683 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.