Former state school employee Wheeler paid in $163K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $3.9M in retirement

Former state school employee Mary Wheeler, who retired in June 2016, saved $162,949 toward a pension over 32 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Wheeler would collect as much as $3.9 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Wheeler received $82,004 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 2 years of retirement, Wheeler will have already received $166,468 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.