Former state school employee Hopkins paid in $215K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $4.33M in retirement

Former state school employee Leonard Hopkins, who retired in May 2016, saved $214,981 toward a pension over 32 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Hopkins would collect as much as $4.33 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Hopkins received $91,104 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Hopkins will have already received $281,593 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.