Former state school employee Packard Higgins paid in $80K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $1.65M in retirement

Former state school employee Joylene Packard Higgins, who retired in May 2016, saved $79,548 toward a pension over 16 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Packard Higgins would collect as much as $1.65 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Packard Higgins received $34,753 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Packard Higgins will have already received $107,419 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.