Quick Cash Lending tips

I have a good buddy who’s in a tough situation and I’m tired of lending money to him. I’ve tried helping him with different things but he’s just having a tough time getting back on his financial feet. He’s needing money again but, instead of giving him just what he needs to pay his cellphone and stuff, I’m thinking about giving him a good chunk of cash and a few ideas because as we all know, if you give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day but if you teach him to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime. However, I don’t really know what direction I should point him. I have a few ideas but I’m looking for MORE ideas.

This is the situation:

You have a thousand bucks, a desktop computer w/high-speed internet and an unlimited cellphone. You need to turn this $ 1,000 bucks into $ 5,000 (or more) in 30 days or less in order to pay off some debt and maintain your existence. (I don’t think this guy needs $ 5,000 bucks but it’s a GOOD amount of cash to get him moving again.) You’re a pretty sharp guy or gal with an impressive resume but can’t get a job because each of your last four employers have either fired you or gone out of business and you don’t have any GOOD Professional References. Thus, no one will hire you. You don’t have a car because it was towed and your driver’s license is suspended for unpaid traffic tickets. You can’t sell anything on Craig’s List because you’ve already pawned all of your crap that’s worth anything. All of your bank accounts have been closed because they’ve all been overdrawn. To top it all off, ALL of your friends are tired of “lending” money to you because they’re tired of supporting a grown-ass man and think you can do better for yourself. Oh…and I forgot to mention, just to add insult to injury, your credit is shot and you live with your mom who’s on unemployment.

Bottom line: You’ve hit a bit of a rough patch to say the least, you’ve lost everything and it’s taken longer to get back on your financial feet than you first expected.

(Please bare in mind, I’m not looking for “get rich quick” deals or internet/website businesses because that’s one of the main reasons this guy is in this situation. You don’t know how many times he’s tried to “borrowed” money from me or tried to sell me on this new “thing” that’s supposed to make him a ba-gillion dollars in the next 7 to 10 business days.)

So, that’s your scenario. GO!!! :^)
BTW…I’m not asking for a critique of my friend or what you think about him or his character. I’m asking what YOU would do given the situation above. Thanks for those of you who actually answered the question.

Answer by Jamie H
To be honest I would not lend him the $ 1000 in the first place. I am in his position except I am a little better off (Right now I am still a minor so my parents are supporting me but I plan on moving out when im 19) I have no car, nothing to pawn on craig’s list, few references and a small bank balance

I have a little bit of money saved and I am working on getting together the money for a down payment on a house. What I chose to do is find a cheaper place to live (Right now I’m in Toronto so real estate is not exactly pocket change) and work part time jobs.

The silver lining of being at rock bottom is that there is only one place to go. Up! It is also nice, because packing up and starting your life over is a great way to get a fresh start. You can re-invent yourself by living in a new city, having a new job, making new friends and just having a huge change in your day to day life.

Best of luck to your friend, I know that this was not exactly the advice that you were looking for but if there was a was to transform $ 1000 to $ 5000 in 30 days than we would all be rich therefore my advice is a little bit more realistic