Former state school employee Hammer paid in $165K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $2.95M in retirement

Former state school employee Sherry Hammer, who retired in July 2017, saved $164,897 toward a pension over 29 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Hammer would collect as much as $2.95 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Hammer received $62,008 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Hammer will have already received $191,660 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.