Former state school employee Gesell paid in $181K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $3.1M in retirement

Former state school employee Julie Gesell, who retired in June 2018, saved $181,341 toward a pension over 32 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Gesell would collect as much as $3.1 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Gesell received $65,078 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Gesell will have already received $201,149 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.