Prairie State Wire

Former state university employee Mary Jones, who retired in November 2018, saved $20,682 toward a pension over 14 years working for state universities, State Universities Retirement System of Illinois records show.

Over 30 years of retirement, Jones would collect as much as $791,274, according to a projection by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which publishes Prairie State Wire.

The projection assumes Jones received $16,632 in the first year of retirement, then 3 percent annual increases thereafter, compounded.

After 2 years of retirement, Jones will have already received $33,763 in retirement benefits, or more than the sum total of the retiree's contributions to the state pension fund.