What's a good formula to determine how much return I would need per year from a Mutual Fund?

I'm currently 31 yrs old. I want to retire at 60 yrs old and be able to have one million dollars saved up in a long term Mutual Fund by then. I live in New York City. Considering inflation, what's a good formula to use to determine how much rate of return is needed from a Mutual Fund so that I would be able to save that much by the time I'm 60? I will be putting in $10,000 and additional $500/monthly.

There are a number of useful -- and free -- financial calculators out on the web just to answer this kind of question. I like the ones at Fidelity, see:

http://personal.fidelity.com/planning/re...

But Morningstar and several of the larger mutual fund company sites have them as well.

P.S. No offense, but I'm not sure what Moody, above, is talking about... 401ks, 403bs, traditional and Roth IRAs can be invested in mutual funds and in fact normally are. If she was trying to make the point that tax-deferred plans are better for you than after-tax plans, she's probably right, but those two aren't mutually exclusive either.

I think you need to talk to someone who knows stocks. Mutual funds would not be my way to go. A 401k, or a 403b through work along with IRA's . A Roth Ira is a sure bet. But don't take it from me. Go to a reputable firm like Fidelity and discuss it with them. There is no charge for a consultation.

First, visit a good online calculator. Try http://www.moneychimp.com/calculator/com... and start plugging in some numbers.

Check out Chapter 25 and Appendix A of my free book at
http://www.invest-for-retirement.com