Online Share Buying Service - best option

[New to This]

I would like to start and buy some shares for a medium to long term investment - not day or short term trading. Not large investments either 1000SGD a month as I invest through Unit Trusts arlready a few thousand a month

The markets I would like access to are UK, USA, Japan and maybe Hong Kong.

I have looked at DBS Vickers but do not think it is for me - min 50GBP to buy shares etc - is there a beter online option out there?

[locally - not really]

Online brokerages here are really expensive and noncompetitive compared to ones in US & UK from the fees perspective.

Normally have to buy lots of 1000 on the SGX so it could also make it difficult to put in exactly 1000 dollars per month.

[To PP]

What about UK or US based ones then?

[locally - not really]

Well the big ones are a google minute away. Schwabb etc...

But you would need to know all the Tax implications..... No point saving on commission then getting whacked on capital gains and dividend tax.

Actually there are many ETF's you can buy in smaller lots of 100 so my previous statement might not be the whole truth.

You may want to take a look at POEMS sharebuilder - but that's pretty much only for local shares.

I use iOCBC - the platform's not great, the commissions aren't nice but it does work and is relatively hassle free - no fancy options like stop loss, or at least I've not found them.

[To PP]

Thank you for taking time to reply - I will take a look around and consider the options

[tax_etc]

FYI, the tax paid on capital gains and dividends are not a function of the broker you use, they depend on the country the stocks/investments are domiciled in and your personal tax status.

If investing in the US market, assuming you are not a US citizen, you won't be taxed on capital gains but 15% of the dividend will be withheld by the broker, so you will be paid net and have no further liability with respect to the US and probably anywhere else.

If investing in Singapore stocks or Australian or UK stocks etc the dividend tax may vary but you would never pay capital gains tax as that will always be determined by your country of tax residency and this can be as low as zero or some heinous percentage if you happen to be a tax resident of a country like the UK.

My personal recommendation for small scale investing would be E*Trade for the US markets (not sure about international).

[Billt02]

I use Saxo capital markets.  Relatively simple system, but allows you access to 26 different stock markets.

Fees are about the same as others in singapore. 

It does have some nice features which some of the others do not have , such as "trailing stop losses" which means I don't have to constantly check the stock, as it will  automatically adjusts the stop loss (sell price) as the stock price moves up and will  sell if the stock drops below that level.