Former state school employee Patterson paid in $197K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $4.42M in retirement

Former state school employee Sandra Patterson, who retired in May 2018, saved $196,851 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, Patterson would collect as much as $4.42 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Patterson received $92,979 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Patterson will have already received $287,388 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.