Former state school employee Wolfe paid in $125K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $2.04M in retirement

Former state school employee Thomas Wolfe, who retired in October 2016, saved $124,741 toward a pension over 31 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Wolfe would collect as much as $2.04 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Wolfe received $42,789 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Wolfe will have already received $132,257 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.