Former state school employee Hedlund paid in $10K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $574K in retirement

Former state school employee Gayle Hedlund, who retired in January 2018, saved $9,899 toward a pension over 8 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Hedlund would collect as much as $573,833, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Hedlund received $12,061 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 1 years of retirement, Hedlund will have already received $12,061 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.