Former state school employee Schulz paid in $204K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $4.04M in retirement

Former state school employee Karen Schulz, who retired in June 2016, saved $204,190 toward a pension over 27 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Schulz would collect as much as $4.04 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Schulz received $85,004 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Schulz will have already received $262,739 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.