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Chicago City Wire

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Former teacher Smolko Azarjew paid in $122K to teachers' pension fund, could collect $2.33M in retirement

Money 01

Former teacher Ewa Smolko Azarjew, who retired in August 2016, saved $122,236 toward a pension over 25 years working for public schools, Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Smolko Azarjew would collect as much as $2.33 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Chicago City Wire.

The projection assumes Smolko Azarjew received $49,078 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Smolko Azarjew will have already received $151,695 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.

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