Brooks Long expects to receive a $600,000 cash benefit when she retires five years from today. Ms. Long’s employer has offered an early retirement incentive by agreeing to pay her $360,000 today if she agrees to retire immediately. Ms. Long desires to earn a rate of return of 8 percent.

Required
Round your figures to the nearest whole dollar.
a. Assuming that the retirement benefit is the only consideration in making the retirement decision, should Ms. Long accept her employer’s offer?
b. Identify the factors that cause the present value of the retirement benefit to be less than $600,000.