Former state school employee Keith paid in $163K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $3.7M in retirement

Former state school employee Mary Keith, who retired in May 2017, saved $163,412 toward a pension over 27 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Keith would collect as much as $3.7 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Keith received $77,842 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Keith will have already received $240,601 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.