Former state school employee Keller paid in $145K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $1.82M in retirement

Former state school employee Susan Keller, who retired in June 2018, saved $145,310 toward a pension over 26 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Keller would collect as much as $1.82 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Keller received $38,268 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 4 years of retirement, Keller will have already received $160,098 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.