Former state school employee Kelley paid in $179K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $3.42M in retirement

Former state school employee Marcia Kelley, who retired in June 2018, saved $179,491 toward a pension over 35 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Kelley would collect as much as $3.42 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Kelley received $71,967 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Kelley will have already received $222,443 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.