Former state school employee Wierenga paid in $245K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $6.2M in retirement

Former state school employee Timothy Wierenga, who retired in July 2017, saved $245,057 toward a pension over 36 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Wierenga would collect as much as $6.2 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Wierenga received $130,224 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 2 years of retirement, Wierenga will have already received $264,355 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.