Former state school employee Gwen Fialkowski, who retired in July 2018, saved $46,283 toward a pension over 12 years working for public schools, Teachers' Retirement System of the State of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Fialkowski would collect as much as $651,282, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes North Cook News.

The projection assumes Fialkowski received $13,689 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 4 years of retirement, Fialkowski will have already received $57,271 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the teachers' pension fund.