Former state school employee Kienstra paid in $104K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $1.87M in retirement

Former state school employee Mary Kienstra, who retired in May 2017, saved $104,436 toward a pension over 19 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Kienstra would collect as much as $1.87 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Kienstra received $39,339 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Kienstra will have already received $121,593 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.