Chicago City Wire

Former state university employee Martha McLaughlin, who retired in January 2017, saved $49,296 toward a pension over 20 years working for state universities, State Universities Retirement System of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, McLaughlin would collect as much as $972,485, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Chicago City Wire.

The projection assumes McLaughlin received $20,440 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, McLaughlin will have already received $63,178 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the state pension fund.