Former state school employee Mitchell paid in $62K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $1.22M in retirement

Former state school employee Kathleen Mitchell, who retired in June 2017, saved $62,495 toward a pension over 17 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Mitchell would collect as much as $1.22 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Mitchell received $25,636 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Mitchell will have already received $79,238 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.