Former state school employee Shafer paid in $81K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $1.63M in retirement

Former state school employee Jeffery Shafer, who retired in September 2017, saved $80,686 toward a pension over 23 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Shafer would collect as much as $1.63 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Shafer received $34,281 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Shafer will have already received $105,958 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.