Former state school employee Harper paid in $195K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $3.92M in retirement

Former state school employee Barbara Harper, who retired in June 2016, saved $195,052 toward a pension over 31 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Harper would collect as much as $3.92 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Harper received $82,485 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Harper will have already received $254,954 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.