Former state university employee Sutherland paid in $76K to pension fund, could collect $1.2M in retirement

Former state university employee Laurie Sutherland, who retired in March 2017, saved $75,842 toward a pension over 21 years working for state universities, State Universities Retirement System of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Sutherland would collect as much as $1.2 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes DuPage Policy Journal.

The projection assumes Sutherland received $25,172 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Sutherland will have already received $77,804 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the state pension fund.