Chicago City Wire

Former state university employee John McErlean, who retired in January 2016, saved $184,584 toward a pension over 27 years working for state universities, State Universities Retirement System of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, McErlean would collect as much as $4.21 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Chicago City Wire.

The projection assumes McErlean received $88,498 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, McErlean will have already received $273,539 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the state pension fund.