Former state school employee Smith paid in $165K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $2.99M in retirement

Former state school employee Kathy Smith, who retired in June 2016, saved $165,197 toward a pension over 30 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 $2.99 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Smith received $62,766 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Smith will have already received $194,003 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.