The lessons taught by this little story seem to depend on the angle of our perspective. One of the things that Jesus commends this man for is his proper understanding of the place of wealth. He knows that money is not an end unto itself. He knows that he has money, but it can't make him happy. In fact, this fellow may have a secret Swiss bank account with a lot of money in it, but he also knows he's going to have to have friends.
Friends are what make life worthwhile.
In and of itself, the money is not enough. The only value of money is what we give to it, and this fellow knows that money is best used in making friends and doing something good with it. This is a primary lesson we learn from the parable. Now, the fellow in this story is very self-serving and very dishonest. I don't think Jesus is commending that.