Former state school employee Martines paid in $175K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $3.87M in retirement

Former state school employee Cheryl Martines, who retired in June 2016, saved $175,043 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, Martines would collect as much as $3.87 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Martines received $81,246 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Martines will have already received $251,122 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.