Former state school employee Karum paid in $182K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $3.85M in retirement

Former state school employee Kimberly Karum, who retired in June 2017, saved $181,688 toward a pension over 34 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Karum would collect as much as $3.85 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Karum received $80,937 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Karum will have already received $250,168 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.