Although I am not a financial advisor ...I may suggest for him if he loves a coin to invest in that coin rather then mining it.
Hashflare, genesis mining They do not have contracts anymore...the difficulty is too big so if these 2 big companies struggle now ...let us say that mining in the present moment is not a solution.
Maybe in the future it will be some new technology new ASICS or something completely different than what is currently now on the market.
I wish your friend good luck and I hope he seas my small video... at the very least he can learn from my mistakes.