My goto is credit / debit spreads. Dec 2023 SPY 250/150 Put credit spread is a $5.73 credit, which is about 2.4% return on capital. Very easy to scale up the reward/risk by picking farther strikes. SPX if commissions are an issue. If you or your friend are expecting volatility to rise later, the debit spread is better.
Define "low risk". We don't know the risk mandate so the question can not be answered properly. What is the Max Draw Down ("MDD") on the total Eq he is okay with? if you can answer this question it will possible to give a good answer.
Bonds or a fund with low equity split might be the way to go. Needs to at least match inflation. Might be worth explaining to him inflation risk
Imagine there is no old man with 800k. OP just want ideas to put his 5k in without sounding like a complete noob
essentially he is looking for risk free 2%. The money has been wrapped up in CDs up to this point and wants to beat what they are offering. If that doesn't exist without some draw down risk then so be it.
Check out guru's journal. Holy crap, he is getting like 20 percent annualized with almost no volatlity!