Bitcoin investment does not required huge amount of funds to start with but we all know that the higher your investments the bigger your profit. And the long term investors and traders of bitcoin own the benefits most especially now that the market is down. so I will advice your friend to start small and he can also get some funds through bounties.
Oh I see. Just out of curiosity, how much does he need so he can he start buying bitcoins? Is $1000 enough or should it be more? Because right now they still have some debts they need to pay and I do not think investing all of their savings to buy bitcoin is ideal.