Quantcast

Chicago City Wire

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Former state university employee Barnell paid in $51K to pension fund, could collect $1M in retirement

Shutterstock 369740408

Former state university employee Phillip Barnell, who retired in January 2016, saved $51,471 toward a pension over 25 years working for state universities, State Universities Retirement System of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Barnell would collect as much as $1 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Chicago City Wire.

The projection assumes Barnell received $21,030 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Barnell will have already received $65,002 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the state pension fund.

MORE NEWS