What's his age? Country matters too..
I'd probably try to put half of that into a tax free it's into index funds. Use the other half to start a business or just flip some thrift/charity shop goods or get into retail arbitrage. Try to double the $2500. I mean if he has a good job this should not be hard.
Is he putting a certain amount into index funds already?
He's 33 living in the US. He makes an average salary of around 50k a year, but travels often for work. I've suggested many side gigs to him, but seems he unfortunately doesn't want to make the effort.
He's not into optimizing building wealth like many of us. I was able to convince him to begin contributing to his 401k plan just last year. He just reached out looking for my opinion and I figured it might be worth sharing how I'd approach it.
Too bad making money isn't boring, to be honest I just got into some of that stuff within the last year.(tighter money circumstances tends to do that)
But you can only lead a horse to water, you can't make them drink.
Most definitely. I always wish for the best for my friends, but the decision is ultimately there's to make. I just try to lead by example and hope they'll eventually come around.