Former state school employee Tokarski paid in $97K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $1.54M in retirement

Former state school employee Carol Tokarski, who retired in June 2016, saved $97,192 toward a pension over 19 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Tokarski would collect as much as $1.54 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Tokarski received $32,412 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Tokarski will have already received $100,182 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.