Former state school employee Smith paid in $164K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $4.04M in retirement

Former state school employee Catherine Smith, who retired in May 2017, saved $163,956 toward a pension over 37 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Smith 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 Smith received $84,844 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 2 years of retirement, Smith will have already received $172,233 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.