(Ignore income taxes in this problem.) A company with $855,000 in operating assets is considering the purchase of a machine that costs $89,000 and which is expected to reduce operating costs by $21,000 each year. These reductions in cost occur evenly throughout the year. The payback period for this machine in years is closest to:

9.6 years

40.7 years

0.24 years

4.2 years