Assuming I would like to tap into the US Market to gain exposure to stocks like Apple, Amazon, Google etc, how much would be the minimum sum for me to have on hand?

As a general thumb, USD 5,000 is a good start to be honest.

Do note that in US, you can buy as little as 1 stock and using brokerages like IB, the commision is pretty low.

Especially if you buy and hold like me.

Hello! You should try out Kristal, as they have no brokerage fees for the first 50k usd. As such, the minimum you would need is just the minimum fee they require for each ETF. For exposure to US stocks there are many options such as SPY, which has a minimum investment of ~310USD, which I guess you can put in 450SGD in the account to be safe. If you are looking at ireland domiciled etfs instead (to have 15% withholding tax) they have a much higher minimum investment at ~3.1k USD (so 4.5k sgd to be safe). As such, you may want to look into investing in either SPY or VOO first (both have roughly the same minimum investment).

Hey Anon!

I think what you're referring to is how much is required to buy into these shares right? It would depend on:

1) Qty of shares purchased (US = min. 1 share but depending on broker, can be fractional shares

2) Commission of the brokerage firm (calculate your buy + sell fees to get a rough idea how much you need to breakeven / profit)

The rule of thumb is to ensure that you have at least 6 months of expenses as your emergency fund. Personally, I will set for myself a higher target such as at least 12 months of expenses. You also need to take into consideration whether you have regular and consistent inflow of cash each month so that the investments will not affect your personal life. Lastly, you have to ask yourself whether do you have a sufficient insurance coverage. This is more important than starting investing.