Former state school employee Menza paid in $218K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $3.74M in retirement

Former state school employee Cynthia Menza, who retired in June 2018, saved $217,688 toward a pension over 33 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Menza would collect as much as $3.74 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Menza received $78,600 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Menza will have already received $242,945 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.