Joetz Corporation has gathered the following data on a proposed investment project $($Ignore income taxes.$)$:

Investment required in equipment

Annual cash inflows

Salvage value of equipment

Life of the investment

Required rate of return

$$40,000$

$$10,000$

$$0$

$15$ years

$10\%$

The company uses straight$-$line depreciation on all equipment. Assume cash flows occur uniformly throughout a year except for the initial investment.

The simple rate of return for the investment $($rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent$)$ is: