Former state school employee Heck paid in $134K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $2.76M in retirement

Former state school employee Cheryl Heck, who retired in June 2016, saved $134,189 toward a pension over 24 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Heck would collect as much as $2.76 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Heck received $58,047 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Heck will have already received $179,417 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.