Good luck.Investors who think they can be successful stock pickers are about to get some sobering news from new academic research. The good news: Yes, buying one stock gives you better odds than buying a lottery ticket. The bad news: Those "better" odds are still much too awful to stake your future on. For starters, think about Treasurys, those boring, low-paying government securities that are at least reliable. Right now, you can buy a one-month T-Bill and expect a yield of about three-quarters of 1%. And you'll get your principal back. Right now, if you buy some individual stocks at random, you mightget some or all of your money back. And you might make a profit. But at least statistically, your odds will be vastly better with those lowly T-Bills. I recently learned of a new academic study entitled "Do stocks outperform Treasury Bills?" by Hendrik Bessembinder, a finance professor at Arizona State University.via