Former state school employee Kerth paid in $1K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $42K in retirement

Former state school employee Katherine Kerth, who retired in July 2018, saved $1,258 toward a pension over 1 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Kerth would collect as much as $41,618, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Kerth received $874 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 2 years of retirement, Kerth will have already received $1,774 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.