Chicago City Wire

Former state university employee Pamela Jurgens Toepke, who retired in January 2019, saved $70,654 toward a pension over 8 years working for state universities, State Universities Retirement System of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Jurgens Toepke would collect as much as $976,818, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Chicago City Wire.

The projection assumes Jurgens Toepke received $20,532 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 4 years of retirement, Jurgens Toepke will have already received $85,897 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the state pension fund.