On one hand you're saying that he doesn't want to take risk (and if this is the majority of his savings, he shouldn't) when you say that he doesn't want an 'early withdrawal penalty'.
Yet on the other hand he wants to get a better return than a bank CD.
You can't have the best of both worlds.
What is the earliest time frame in which he would want his funds? Take in to account potential emergency requirements. This is the duration of his investment.
What is the worst case scenario, based on historical returns, on different investment classes (S&P500, various stock funds, gov't bonds, t-bills, CDs, gold, foreign currency deposits, etc.) for that duration? This will give you a worse-case risk profile (not really - because records are meant to be broken) of the investment classes. You could be less conservative and take average returns for the investment horizon and adjust by the standard deviation of the returns, but that's not going to remove the risk.
If this is all that he has - don't be greedy. Allow him to be secure in his retirement.
And get some proper financial advice from a certified financial planner who can become familiar with his complete financial situation (including tax consequences) and not from some random idiot on a gay webmaster forum.
and play high stakes 
