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Blacks have shorter life expectancies than whites, they can expect to collect fewer Social Security benefits. For example, in 1996 the life expectancy of a black male at birth was 66.1 years. This means a black youth can expect to pay Social Security taxes for his entire work life and die almost a year before achieving the right to collect full benefits at age 67. (However, reduced benefits will still be available at age 62.) Prospects are better for black females, but their life expectancy of 74.2 years is less than the 79.6 years for a white female. All these life expectancies are expected to increase in future years - but the rate of return will still be lower for blacks. Further, a smaller proportion of blacks go to college, so blacks as a group begin their working lives earlier and thus start paying payroll taxes sooner than whites. But on the average they receive no additional benefits for the extra taxes they pay because Social Security benefits are based on 35 years of work history. Paradoxically, even though black workers get a lower rate of return, their overall expected loss from Social Security (discounted value of taxes minus benefits) is slightly smaller. Why? Because they earn lower incomes, they pay less in taxes. Thus, although their return is smaller, their "investment" in Social Security is also smaller. By contrast, the average white worker is forced into making a larger "investment" in Social Security.