Former state school employee Russo paid in $116K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $2.43M in retirement

Former state school employee Cheryl Russo, who retired in June 2018, saved $115,723 toward a pension over 32 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Russo would collect as much as $2.43 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Russo received $51,046 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Russo will have already received $157,777 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.