Former state school employee Ronald Helms, who retired in July 2017, saved $264,285 toward a pension over 36 years working for public schools, Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.
Over 30 years of retirement, Helms would collect as much as $5.78 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.
The projection assumes Helms received $121,521 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.
After 3 years of retirement, Helms will have already received $375,610 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree’s contributions to the teachers’ pension fund.
