Former state school employee Werly paid in $38K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $677K in retirement

Former state school employee Laura Werly, who retired in June 2017, saved $38,143 toward a pension over 17 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Werly would collect as much as $676,933, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Werly received $14,228 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Werly will have already received $43,978 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.