Chicago City Wire

Former state university employee Emily Paine Gibbons, who retired in January 2019, saved $35,798 toward a pension over 3 years working for state universities, State Universities Retirement System of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Paine Gibbons would collect as much as $242,634, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Chicago City Wire.

The projection assumes Paine Gibbons received $5,100 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 7 years of retirement, Paine Gibbons will have already received $39,078 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the state pension fund.