Former state school employee Winkler paid in $179K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $3.53M in retirement

Former state school employee Robert Winkler, who retired in June 2017, saved $178,915 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, Winkler would collect as much as $3.53 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Winkler received $74,160 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Winkler will have already received $229,222 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.