Former state school employee Schmidt paid in $147K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $3.08M in retirement

Former state school employee Constance Schmidt, who retired in June 2016, saved $146,857 toward a pension over 26 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Schmidt would collect as much as $3.08 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Schmidt received $64,805 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Schmidt will have already received $200,305 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.