I know it's a dumb question but is there a way you could send a friend money, and how?

You can send money to friends via Vouchers (Go to Explore, Centropolis, sP Voucher Exchange) or through Trades. Let your Friend set up a trade with a junk item (Maybe an Anpan or the like) and you can bid with the amount you want to send them.

Thank you very much!