The Myth That’s Keeping You on the Sidelines For years, the investing world had an unspoken entry fee. You needed thousands of dollars to open a brokerage account, meet mutual fund minimums, and buy individual shares of well-known companies. A single share of Amazon would have cost you over $3,000 at its peak. That barrier kept millions of people — especially younger workers, people paying off debt, and lower-income earners — locked out of the wealth-building machine that is the stock market.