No, it's not reasonable. His savings barely covers the cost of a new car (bought on an emergency). IPOs are volatile and impossible to time.

On his budget, I could see him investing a few hundred into Facebook with the intention to stay and hold, but anything beyond that is silly gambling.

And besides, buying Facebook stock right now is just plain stupid. It's a low-float IPO designed to make people who already own the stock rich. By floating a low number of shares, people who own the shares create artificial demand

The stock is being sold at nearly 25 times sales...Amazon is selling for about 2 times sales. Seriously? This is just a get-rich scheme for current Facebook shareholders.

Not saying anything is wrong with it. But you should definitely wait to invest until after the pop and the prices slide back to something reasonable.

Also, the OP has no business investing in stock right now. Unless you have 10k to throw around as disposable income, investing should be off the table.

3k is almost starving and homeless territory. Pay off your debt and get a part-time job.

$3,000. I would leave $2,500 in the bank (on the CC). Explore manufacturers in China – Perform a few searches on ebay to see which products are the most popular – Import a few widgets with the $500. Ensure you can sell for more than the product costs and shipping expenses are. Review ‘Product Differentiators’ online to ensure that you can sell your product for a higher price than others by describing it better and introducing a higher perceived value.

Could work...I would say $6,000 in the hole - $500 will not really change your predicament?