Former state school employee Grams paid in $86K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $1.52M in retirement

Former state school employee Theresa Grams, who retired in May 2016, saved $85,937 toward a pension over 14 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Grams would collect as much as $1.52 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Grams received $31,859 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Grams will have already received $98,473 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.