Former state school employee Shafton paid in $110K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $2.34M in retirement

Former state school employee Helen Shafton, who retired in May 2018, saved $110,018 toward a pension over 21 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Shafton would collect as much as $2.34 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Shafton received $49,277 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Shafton will have already received $152,310 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.