Former state school employee Mega paid in $170K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $3.98M in retirement

Former state school employee Thomas Mega, who retired in June 2017, saved $169,538 toward a pension over 36 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Mega would collect as much as $3.98 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Mega received $83,641 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 2 years of retirement, Mega will have already received $169,791 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.