Former state school employee Kodl paid in $163K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $3.33M in retirement

Former state school employee Karen Kodl, who retired in May 2017, saved $163,497 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, Kodl would collect as much as $3.33 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Kodl received $70,067 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Kodl will have already received $216,570 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.