Former state school employee Wessel paid in $180K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $4.2M in retirement

Former state school employee Michael Wessel, who retired in May 2017, saved $180,370 toward a pension over 35 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Wessel would collect as much as $4.2 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Wessel received $88,241 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Wessel will have already received $272,744 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.