Former state school employee Whitebread paid in $159K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $3.33M in retirement

Former state school employee Bridgette Whitebread, who retired in September 2018, saved $158,984 toward a pension over 24 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Whitebread would collect as much as $3.33 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Whitebread received $70,041 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Whitebread will have already received $216,489 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.