Former state school employee Starinieri paid in $166K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $3.68M in retirement

Former state school employee Pamela Starinieri, who retired in June 2016, saved $166,318 toward a pension over 34 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Starinieri would collect as much as $3.68 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Starinieri received $77,337 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Starinieri will have already received $239,041 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.