Former state school employee Gates paid in $122K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $2.21M in retirement

Former state school employee Cindy Gates, who retired in June 2017, saved $122,416 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, Gates would collect as much as $2.21 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Gates received $46,426 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Gates will have already received $143,499 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.