Metro East Sun

Former state school employee Mary Guest, who retired in May 2017, saved $109,065 toward a pension over 22 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Guest would collect as much as $2.08 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Metro East Sun.

The projection assumes Guest received $43,647 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Guest will have already received $134,908 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.