$500 in brokerage account

[Brent Baker]

I'm not sure if this is the right board or not so mods, please feel free to move if appropriate. My wife told me that she discovered her stepfather opened up a brokerage account for her almost 20 years ago. They seeded it with what is now close to 500 dollars (Not sure if they put very little in and this is what it has matured to of what?). Anyway, my wife said I can play with it if I want but the one caveat is that she does not want to close that account. I think she thinks it would be rude and kind of a slap in the face to her stepfather (who is the financial planner who opened the account by the way).

I discovered an article for real estate crowdfunding sites. It looks like a lot of these sites require very little to get started, around $500. I wasn't sure if I could invest in these sites through a brokerage account or not? If I can, does anyone have any experience with these sites? If I can't, can anyone recommend any kind of income producing investment I can do with this brokerage account? i was thinking maybe some sort of REIT or something like that but not sure where to begin looking.

thanks for the help,