Former state school employee Linna Cohen, who retired in June 2016, saved $185,813 toward a pension over 33 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Cohen would collect as much as $4.02 million, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes North Cook News.

The projection assumes Cohen received $84,581 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 3 years of retirement, Cohen will have already received $261,431 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.