Former state school employee Gordon paid in $230K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $4.52M in retirement

Former state school employee Karen Gordon, who retired in June 2018, saved $229,877 toward a pension over 28 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Gordon would collect as much as $4.52 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Gordon received $95,037 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Gordon will have already received $293,750 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.