Former state school employee Smith paid in $181K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $3.38M in retirement

Former state school employee Charles Smith, who retired in June 2018, saved $181,346 toward a pension over 25 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 $3.38 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Smith received $70,989 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Smith will have already received $219,421 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.