Metro East Sun

Former state school employee Carlos Stanford, who retired in June 2018, saved $130,614 toward a pension over 34 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Stanford would collect as much as $2.41 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Metro East Sun.

The projection assumes Stanford received $50,614 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Stanford will have already received $156,442 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.