Former state school employee Fitzpatrick paid in $93K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $1.78M in retirement

Former state school employee Kathleen Fitzpatrick, who retired in May 2018, saved $92,776 toward a pension over 20 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Fitzpatrick would collect as much as $1.78 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Fitzpatrick received $37,341 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Fitzpatrick will have already received $115,417 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.