The Importance of Being Self-Reliant in Retirement

Most baby boomers are at various stages of preparing for retirement, depending on whether they were born at the beginning or end of their generation. The smart ones realize that effective planning starts well before retirement age. Important calculations need to be made to determine what it will take to survive financially throughout the retirement years. Post-work lifestyles and passions also need to be defined, and consideration for unexpected events should be taken into account whenever possible.

Counting on others to provide for us in our old age is a risky proposition. In the U.S., the ratio of working-age citizens between ages 15 and 64 supporting those over 64 is currently 5:1. By the year 2050 this ratio will drop to 3:1, according to United Nations data. In China things are even worse. They will move from the current 9:1 ratio to 3:1. And in Japan the ratio will be 1:1 in 2050.

It is important to rely on ourselves and our own resourcefulness. Society is changing to deal with the aging demographic with less generous pension plans, longer working hours, and an increase in the retirement age. Back in the 1980s, 38 percent of people had traditional pensions. By 2008 the number dropped to 20 percent. If a traditional pension will not be part of our retirement equation, we need to fill in the blank with other investments and savings alternatives.

Don't count on Social Security to foot your entire retirement bill either. With an average monthly amount of $1,230 paid at the beginning of 2012, it should only be viewed as a supplement to your other sources of retirement income. It is a piece of the puzzle, but should not be considered the entire solution.

Health demands and expenses will increase as we age. Fidelity estimates that a 65-year-old couple retiring in 2011 will need $230,000 to cover likely out-of-pocket medical expenses in retirement. And this estimate does not even include the cost of long-term care. Such burdens could prove catastrophic if we do not plan ahead with additional savings, health insurance, and long-term care coverage.

Most people approaching retirement would like the option to stay in their current home if they choose to and remain healthy enough to safely do so. Paying down your mortgage over the years provides flexibility, and the equity can be available for emergencies. Whether a decision is made to stay in the existing home or sell, having the option empowers senior citizens.

Remaining independent in retirement requires planning ahead, realistically evaluating your situation, and taking appropriate action to provide for your retirement needs. You can't count on the government or your former employer to finance your retirement years. It's something you need to take care of yourself.

Dave Bernard is not yet retired but has begun his due diligence to plan for a fulfilling retirement. With a focus on the non-financial aspects of retiring, he shares his discoveries and insights on his blog Retirement-Only the Beginning.

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Trio of chefs nominated in 'Time' magazine's 100 most influential people list

Chefs René Redzepi, David Chang and José Andrés have been nominated in Time magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

The trio of world renowned chefs joins a pool of politicians, heads of state, actors, musicians and human rights activists as candidates in the publication’s Time 100 list.

Last year, Chef Grant Achatz was the only food personality among nominees like Jamie Oliver, US food writer Mark Bittman and Redzepi to break through the final round.

Voting is now open and closes April 6. The poll winner will be included in the Time 100 list, and the remaining people chosen by the magazine editors. The winners will be announced April 17.

Here’s how the food personalities are being described in the nominations:

José Andrés
Age: 42
Activist Chef
Andrés is a decorated chef for his Washington DC restaurants Jaleo and Minibar. Last year, he was named Outstanding Chef at the James Beard Foundation Awards. But it’s for his anti-hunger and anti-poverty efforts that he’s been singled out by Time this year. His World Central Kitchen, for instance, is described as an international think tank that tries to find creative solutions for feeding the world’s hungry.

David Chang
Age: 34
Occupation: Chef
In addition to expanding his Momofuku restaurant empire to Sydney and Toronto, Chang --  described as the “enfant terrible" of the New York dining scene -– has become a publishing mogul with a cookbook and foodie magazine Lucky Peach. But mostly, it’s his gourmet pan-Asian cooking that has diners raving.

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How to Avoid a High Tax Bracket in Retirement

We spend many years saving and investing in our retirement portfolios. And when we retire, there is still more work to be done. You probably have many accounts in your retirement portfolio including a 401(k), traditional IRA, Roth IRA, after-tax brokerage account, annuity, Social Security benefits, and perhaps even a traditional pension. You will need to use all of these sources of income efficiently to best replace the paychecks you used to get from your job.

One of the most important strategies is to keep tax to a minimum. Due to tax-deferred retirement accounts, many of us have delayed paying taxes on much of our retirement income. And that tax bill becomes due when we withdraw the money in retirement. Aiming to stay in a low tax bracket can help retirees to minimize the tax they pay on their retirement savings. Here's a look at the current tax brackets:
Tax Brackets 2012     Single     Married Filing Jointly     Head of Household
10 percent bracket     $0-$8,700     $0-$17,400     $0-$12,400
15 percent bracket     $8,700-$35,350     $17,400-$70,700     $12,400- $47,350
25 percent bracket     $35,350-$85,650     $70,700-$142,700     $47,350- $122,300
28 percent bracket     $85,650-$178,650     $142,700-$217,450     $122,300- $198,050
33 percent bracket     $178,650-$388,350     $217,450- $388,350     $198,050- $388,350
35 percent bracket     $388,350+     $388,350+     $388,350+

In retirement, we should strive to avoid the 25 percent tax rate (or higher) as much as possible. To stay in the 15 percent bracket, we will have to make sure our adjusted gross income stays under $35,000. There are several things we can do to accomplish this.

Let's say a single retiree needs $3,000 per month after taxes to cover expenses. Can a retiree bring in this income, but still avoid the 25 percent tax rate? It depends on where the income comes from.

Annuity, pension, and Social Security income are each taxed differently than regular earned income. In this example, let's assume the taxable portion of these types of income is around $15,000 per year.

Then we could withdraw $20,000 from a 401(k) or traditional IRA and still stay in a low tax bracket. These are both pre-tax accounts and any withdrawals are taxed at the earned income rate.

So far this retiree has an adjusted gross income of $35,000, which allows him to avoid the 25 percent tax bracket, and instead pay an effective tax rate of around 13.75 percent. This is about $2,500 per month in after-tax income. But we are still $500 short of $3,000 per month for expenses.

We can then tap an after-tax account for this shortfall. The current long-term capital gains tax rate is 0 percent for people in the 10 or 15 percent tax bracket. You could also withdraw the money from a Roth IRA or Roth 401(k). No income tax is due on these withdrawals because you already pre-paid the income tax up front.

If you want to remain in a low tax bracket in retirement, generate $35,000 or less from taxable income sources including a 401(k), IRA, Social Security, annuity, and pension. Once you hit $35,000 worth of taxable income, switch to after-tax accounts like the Roth IRA to generate the rest of your target income.

This flexibility is why it is important to invest in a Roth IRA and after-tax accounts. While you don't get an immediate tax break, these accounts add tax diversification to your portfolio that can be extremely useful when it's time to withdraw the money. While employers often encourage us to contribute to traditional 401(k) accounts, don't ignore the future tax benefit of the Roth IRA. It's best to contribute to both a traditional and Roth 401(k) or IRA, and an after-tax brokerage account.

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Is a Rural Retirement Right for You?

Would you be willing to exchange Thai restaurants and unwavering wireless Internet for homegrown produce and birdsong?

If so, a rural retirement may suit you well. The bonus: Rural acreage is a rare segment of the real estate market that weathered the Great Recession.

[See 10 New Retirement Hotspots.]

According to a report from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, residential land values in the United States are down nearly 70 percent since peaking in the second quarter of 2006. During that same period, the value of cropland in the contiguous United States rose some 20 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That's also the downside; higher values mean higher points of entry for would-be buyers looking to get into the rural market.

But the category looks poised to grow even more (individual markets may vary, of course.) Higher overall commodities prices lift land values. And while commodities prices can be volatile, a rising global middle class population that's sure to eat better and drive more could keep a floor under the market. That helps land prices.

"Idyllic lifestyle-seekers" want a fresh start and a tangible investment, says Dan Duffy, CEO at the rural and coastal real-estate search network United Country, based in Kansas City, Mo.

"You can't create more land--it's a finite investment. And during the downturn, agricultural land produced a dividend-like yield in the 5 percent to 8 percent range, plus capital appreciation. This, while some bond yields hovered at zero or worse," Duffy says. Land is also broadly characterized as a "real" asset. It's tangible, and that makes it an inflation-fighter.

Land investment can be two-pronged: The land itself is worth something, and what it might produce has a separate value. There are other money-making possibilities: rental income, such as for livestock grazing, cash crops from corn to timber, lodging fees for cabins or a bed-and-breakfast, organic-vegetable selling, fishing and hunting rights, wind power or natural gas rights, and profiting from eco-tourism.

Crickets can be louder than traffic. A trend of retirees leaving the suburbs for small town and country life--a move that demographers call "out-migration"--was underway before the economic downturn. It held up relatively well during that period, although was slowed somewhat by weak home-selling markets that kept retirees and soon-to-be retirees in their existing homes. But with the number of baby boomers exiting the workforce, it's a trend that looks to continue.

[See the 10 Sunniest Places to Retire.]

USDA data show a "deconcentration" of population near metro centers. Urban areas will see a net loss of people age 55 to 75, while in non-metro areas, that age group will increase by 1.6 million nationally during the next 10 years.

Remember the Alpaca farm craze a few years back? Turning into a rancher overnight isn't for everyone. Luckily, there are dozens of ways to extend your "career" in the country. If remote life isn't quite your aim, small-town retirement hubs may allow for a service-focused second career--think restaurant or real estate office proprietor, or perhaps hanging out a tax-preparation shingle after a long accounting career at a Fortune 500 company.

Many retirees want land they can develop or recreate, at least partially, for their own residential or hobby use. A land purchase can be a wise "mini step" toward retirement: Buy the land while still working in a populous setting, rent it out, move there eventually, says Duffy.

Prime school districts may no longer top the list of real estate must-haves, but retirees want a certain level of service and cultural amenities, whether they're in population centers or not. This need may help drive their decision-making. Plus, there are potentially heavy maintenance costs and overall land management responsibilities that may turn off some buyers. An acreage is a big purchase, one that requires a considerable amount of due diligence. (Real estate firms are increasingly getting into the land-management business, so property owners can pay for help.)

Curtis Seltzer, a rural land investor and author of How to Be a Dirt-Smart Buyer of Country Property, says rural buying should start at the ground up, literally, with a focus on dirt. "Most buyers from the city and suburbs, including me, focus first and almost exclusively on the country house, whether existing or planned," writes Seltzer. "This comes at the expense of paying attention to the dirt on which the house stands and which surrounds it. We do this, I think, because all of us have a passing familiarity with houses. So we evaluate country property in terms of what we know rather than what we don't."

[See 10 Places to Buy a Retirement Home for Under $100,000.]

Seltzer offers these tips:

-- Look first at how the land lays--its topography. Which direction do its slopes face? How steep are they? If the land is flat, will it drain quickly or hold water because the subsurface contains a lot of clay? The surface vegetation and the feel of the dirt in your hands will give you an initial reading. Topographically interesting land is usually more interesting to spend time on, but it's also more expensive to work with and much harder to work against.

-- Second, look at your soils. Different soils have different characteristics and capabilities which will determine what you can do with your property at a reasonable cost. Your first stop in scoping property is to pick up a copy of the county's Soil Survey at the local U.S. Department of Agriculture office. County-level aerial maps and soil-survey information are available for some states and counties, and can be found at soils.usda.gov/survey.

-- Third, look at the location of your dirt. Will it be hard to get to in bad weather? Is it subject to flooding, earthquakes, mudslides, windstorms, fires, and prevailing weather? If you have shoreline, is the land low (bad) or high (good)? Is the shoreline eroding? Is the land facing in the right compass direction for your plans?

-- Finally, look at your dirt in terms of proximity to local goods and bads--hospital, fire station, public water and sewerage, rescue squad, floodplain, job opportunities, and distance from your current residence, post office, bank, supermarket, and objectionable facilities--however you care to define them.

Trending now. United Country's Duffy says rural destinations in the Mid-Atlantic are drawing rising interest for their temperate climate, mix of mountains and shoreline, and reasonable distance to centers such as Washington, D.C. This way, retirees may maintain consulting positions and ease into their retirement. One micro-trend is what he terms the "half-backers." It's a population that spent their working years in the Northeast, then retired to Florida, but are now finding unattractive pricing (or lack of housing or elbow room there) and are moving halfway back to the Northeast.

Duffy says "small" ranches of a few hundred acres in Texas are popular searches on his firm's website. He also notes increasing migration from California to the "unspoiled" and less-expensive mountain retreats of Colorado, Montana, and Idaho.

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Keeping Cartier contemporary: the jewelry house discusses modern art, mass market collaborations and the revival of classics

Ahead of the launch of Cartier, Jeweler of the Arts, the latest expo from Cartier's art museum the Fondation Cartier, which begins April 3 in Paris, Relaxnews met up with Cartier Europe's managing director Cyrille Vigneron to discuss how a prestigious maison stays ahead in an ever evolving luxury market.

Relaxnews: Cartier, Jeweler of the Arts brings together four artworks commissioned by Cartier and made by four very different artists (David Lynch, Takeshi Kitano, Alessandro Mendini, Beatriz Milhazes) using precious and semi-precious stones no longer deemed suitable for the brand's jewelry. What makes a luxury house decide to team up with contemporary artists?

Cyrille Vigneron: The artists can see what others don't see in terms of trends, arts, design, all forms of expression. They see a different way to represent the world and the foundation doesn't think about what Cartier is doing -- it just thinks about the art world. The Fondation won't become a design studio for Cartier products. Some other brands are doing that, calling artists or designers and saying 'sign our products' or making something that is co-branded. I won't say who but you can easily see. It becomes a hybrid which has some value but it changes the orientation and perception. A brand should be true to its own creative past, its own patrimony, and the designer should serve that as a purpose. When it comes to a designer working for himself it's something different.

RN: The Fondation Cartier is known for championing emerging contemporary artists from across the globe, but where does Cartier stand on rising US jewelry designers such as Alexis Bittar and Pamela Love? Do you feel a challenge to compete or consider them separate?

CV: For jewelry I say the more players the better. Having more famous designers gets people interested and creates stimulation and diversity. But each has to find its own style. For example, Hermès is moving into it and exploring its own way with the famous Hermès handbags being transformed into jewelry for the luxury market. This is something exploratory, something no one has done before. As long as we have many designers doing something genuine it's fine, when a designer starts to copy another one that's not fine.

RN: Cartier was one of the main luxury jewelers in the limelight following last year's Elizabeth Taylor jewelry auction, and some of the opulent designs inspired by the star's collection have been reinterpreted on a mass scale. What is your take on this?

CV: When you are copied it means that you're interesting, but if some brands just come and copy others without making any innovation or developments then it's counterfeit. You should respect others. If you just say, "We'll copy this and make it cheaper and it will be fine," it's just disgusting. But if you really go further and try something new and I'll find clients for that then it's great, then it stimulates everyone's creativity and inspires us to do things better.

RN: So would Cartier ever collaborate with a more affordable brand?

CV: No, never. There can be room for premium jewelry or costume jewelry; it can all be something interesting as far it is what it is. Then there is fine jewelry, then there is high jewelry and it's a different world. We can have simple designs; for example the trinity ring is very simple, a wedding band is a wedding band -- simple, straight, symbolic -- we're happy to do it.  But a lower end collaboration to diffuse via a mass production -- never. Projects such as the recent Cartier Odyssey movie make Cartier universal. Whether you intend to buy or not doesn't matter.

RN: How does Cartier maintain a balance between keeping traditional clients happy and attracting new ones?

CV: The maison has a stature and has been endorsed by really famous people from past and present: Liz Taylor, the Duchess of Windsor, Grace Kelly. But this can only continue if our contemporary creations are rejuvenated. Now the most demanded pieces come from the Tutti Frutti collection, each of them is new but has been inspired by the 1920s. We can make new ones out of the same inspired style and then have something really daring and new in terms of shape and style and ways to wear. Classics are the kind of designer pieces or products which can talk to anyone at anytime -- a design that has been outstanding whether made in the 1930s or 1970s or this generation. That's why collections go through generations; whether it's a trinity ring or a love bracelet. At some point they were daring and then they become classic because someone wears them. Our creations are constantly kept alive, adding new variants to the same model but also keeping the initial model alive itself and that's why we have many variants on the Tank watch collection or the trinity collection.

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Pacquiao gets Romney pep talk before Marquez bout

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Defeated U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave Manny Pacquiao a brief pep talk before the Filipino's non-title welterweight bout against Juan Manuel Marquez on Saturday.

Romney, who with his wife Ann was a ringside guest of Nevada State Athletic Commission chairman Bill Brady, visited Pacquiao in his dressing room during one of the fights on the undercard at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

"I wish you good luck tonight," a smiling Romney said in front of television cameras to Pacquiao, who has won world titles in an unprecedented eight weight divisions. "Have a great night. Good to see you."

According to Pacquiao's publicist Fred Sternburg, Romney began the short conversation by saying: "Hello Manny. I ran for president. I lost."

Pacquiao is no stranger to politics, having claimed a seat in his country's national congress in May 2010 when elected to the House of Representatives in the 15th Congress of the Philippines.

On Saturday, however, the 33-year-old Filipino southpaw will be aiming for bold vindication in the ring when he fights Mexican Marquez for a fourth and final time.

The two boxers fought to a draw in May 2004 before Marquez lost his WBC super-featherweight title to Pacquiao in a controversial one-point split decision in March 2008.

When they last met, in November last year, Pacquiao narrowly retained his WBO welterweight title with a controversial majority decision that was greeted by loud boo-ing from disgruntled Marquez fans.

"He (Marquez) always claims he won the fights," said Pacquiao, who has a career record of 54-4-2 with 38 knockouts. "So he needs to prove something.

"I am giving him a chance to prove he can win the fight because he thought he has won all three and he keeps talking about it.

"So it is very important to me, to win this fight, especially since Marquez really wanted this fight," said the Filipino who lost his most recent fight on a hotly disputed split decision to American Timothy Bradley in Las Vegas in June.

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2012 Elections Finally Over: Boustany Defeats Landry in Louisiana Runoff

GOP Rep. Charles Boustany defeated his GOP rival, freshman tea-partier Rep. Jeff Landry, in a runoff in Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District tonight. Boustany leads 61 percent to 39 percent, with 95 percent of precincts reporting and The Associated Press has called the race.

Fittingly, the last race of 2012 was a redistricting battle between two members of the same party - one that ended in a runoff more than a month after Election Day. It did not affect Democrats' net gain of eight House seats in 2012.

The four-term congressman Boustany was expected to win, having topped the multi-way field on Nov. 6 with just less than 45 percent of the vote. Landry collected 30 percent, while Democrat Ron Richard collected 22 percent. Richard later endorsed Boustany.

Landry, a member of the House Tea Party Caucus who voted against last year's deal to raise the debt limit, was supported by conservative Sen. Jim DeMint and the tea-party group FreedomWorks.

The two congressmen had split southern Louisiana for one term before the state lost one seat in 2010's redistricting, but the new 3rd District included far more of Boustany's old 7th District than Landry's old 3rd.

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Weakened typhoon set to make second landfall in Philippines

NEW BATAAN, Philippines (Reuters) - A much-weakened storm was set to make landfall in the Philippines' northwest on Sunday, five days after the year's strongest typhoon killed 540 people and caused crop damage worth about 8 billion pesos ($195.38 million) in the south.

The Philippines weather bureau issued storm alerts for northern provinces on the main island of Luzon as Bopha, with greatly reduced winds at its centre of 55 kph (35 mph), changed course back towards land after heading into the South China Sea.

Typhoon Bopha first hit land on Tuesday with winds stronger than Hurricane Sandy that devastated the U.S. East Coast in October.

Residents in typhoon-hit areas on southern Mindanao island have been appealing for food, water and other relief supplies.

On Saturday, President Benigno Aquino declared a state of national calamity in the typhoon-hit areas to control prices of basic commodities and allow local governments to draw special calamity funds for relief operations.

The official death toll rose to 540 people and nearly 850 are still missing, mostly in the Mindanao provinces of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental. More than 1,000 were injured and about 370,000 are in temporary shelter areas.

"They have neglected us," farmer Cresencia Blanco, 57, told Reuters. Blanco said she and her neighbors around Osmena town in Compostela Valley had lost their homes and crops.

"They are focused on New Bataan," she said, referring to another town in the valley. "Since the typhoon struck, we only got a total of four kilos of rice, that's all."
Nearby, Blanco's son, Monching, held up a placard that read: "We're hungry. We don't have relief goods. Have mercy on us."

As people from Osmena gathered along a highway, a convoy of trucks carrying food supplies rumbled past, with people scrambling madly for packs of noodles thrown from the trucks.

Benito Ramos, executive director of the national disaster agency, said the United States had offered to send transport planes and helicopters to help bring food supplies to remote and isolated areas.
Security forces were sent to guard government warehouses and commercial centers to prevent looting after people raided a rice warehouse in a coastal area in Davao Oriental province.
Humanitarian agencies said some 5.4 million people affected by the typhoon urgently need food, potable water and shelter after Bopha wiped out 90 percent of houses in the worst-hit towns in Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental.

Donations from the international community have poured in, with U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also ordering the Pacific Command to support relief and rescue operations.

Pope Benedict XVI also sent a message of support to typhoon victims. "I am praying for the victims, for their families and for the many who lost their homes," the Pope told Catholics gathered in St. Peter's Square.
In some parts of Mindanao, people took to gold panning as floodwaters swept a mining area in Mawab town. "Now, I can repair the roofs of my house," Alexander Chavez told Reuters as entire families descended on a river to gather gold tailings.

Gold traders were buying ingots at 1,600 pesos ($39) per gram, he said, adding they are earning 2,000 pesos a day. "Sometimes, the flood brings something good for us." ($1 = 40.9450 Philippine pesos)

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China's Wanxiang wins auction for U.S. government-backed A123

WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) - China's largest maker of auto parts won a politically sensitive auction for A123 Systems Inc , a bankrupt maker of batteries for electric cars that was funded partly with U.S. government money, A123's investment banker said on Saturday.

Timothy Pohl of Lazard Freres said Wanxiang Group Corp's bid of about $260 million topped a joint bid from Johnson Controls Inc of Milwaukee and Japan's NEC Corp for the maker of lithium-ion batteries.

Siemens AG of Germany had also qualified to bid, according to two people familiar with the auction, who asked not to be identified. The auction began on Thursday.

Chinese companies have launched $51.3 billion worth of outbound deals this year, making it Asia's second-biggest spender on overseas acquisitions behind Japan, according to Thomson Reuters data.

While state-owned oil giants continue to dominate outbound deals, recently Chinese companies have targeted deals aimed at securing technology know-how. That shift is supported by China's five-year development plan that puts emphasis on industries such as high-end manufacturing equipment.

Earlier this year, Shandong Heavy Industry Group agreed to buy a quarter stake in Germany's Kion Group , giving China access to industrial technology from the world's number two fork lift truck maker.

Before that, Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group agreed to buy a majority stake in privately held German machinery manufacturer Schwing, while Sany Heavy Industry bought rival Putzmeister in a 360 million euro ($472 million) deal.

Wanxiang, one of the largest non-government-owned companies in China, has annual revenue of more than $13 billion and supplies auto parts to many of China's largest automakers.

POLITICAL BACKLASH

News of Wanxiang's winning bid comes only a day after the Canadian government approved a controversial deal allowing China's state-owned oil company CNOOC to buy energy company Nexen Inc for $15.1 billion.

Wanxiang's approach for A123 had stirred a political storm and one U.S. politician was quick to warn about A123 and its sensitive, U.S. taxpayer-financed technology falling into the hands of a Chinese company.

"Given the thin line between Wanxiang and the Chinese government, I am concerned about the government of China having access to sensitive technologies being used by our military forces," said a statement from Congressman Bill Huizenga, a Republican from Michigan where A123 has plants.

The sale did not include parts of A123's business that works with the U.S. Defense Department, a source close to the deal said. That portion of the company went to another bidder, which the source did not identify.

The sale must be approved by Delaware Bankruptcy Court judge Kevin Carey at a hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

Opposition to the deal will likely focus on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which would need to approve the sale to Wanxiang.

U.S. politicians and retired military leaders have already pressed the government panel to reject Wanxiang.

Separately, the U.S. government has also said it must give its consent before its $249 million grant to A123 can be transferred to a new owner. The battery maker can still draw $120 million under various government grants, according to court records.

It was unclear if the grant would be transferred to Wanxiang.

A123, whose customers include Fisker Automotive, General Motors Co , BMW and the U.S. military, received the U.S. government grant as part of a program to promote clean energy.

Wanxiang has had its eyes on A123 for a while. The Chinese company struck a $465 million investment deal meant to save A123 from bankruptcy earlier this year. That agreement fell apart after A123 failed to meet certain criteria, according to court documents.

The Chinese company is no stranger to investing in the United States.

Wanxiang generates about $1 billion in revenue in the United States by supplying parts to GM and Ford Motor Co and has bought or invested in more than 20 U.S. companies, many of them in bankruptcy, said a congressional report.

Those past investments could help Wanxiang get approval to buy A123, but the deal will be closely scrutinized because it involves advanced technology, said Andrew Szamosszegi, who wrote the report for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

A123 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October.

The money from the auction will go toward paying off A123's creditors. The company listed liabilities of $376 million when it filed for bankruptcy.

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Republican Boustany wins Louisiana U.S. House runoff

(Reuters) - U.S. Representative Charles Boustany defeated fellow Republican Representative Jeff Landry on Saturday in a runoff for a U.S. congressional seat in Louisiana.

Boustany won a fifth term, capturing 61 percent of the vote in the southwest Louisiana district, with 100 percent of precincts reporting, according to the Louisiana Secretary of State's office. Landry lost his seat after only one term.

"Thank you! We couldn't have done it without you!" read a note on Boustany's campaign website late on Saturday.

The two lawmakers were forced to vie for a single House of Representatives seat after Louisiana's seven districts were reduced to six in the last redistricting cycle.

In a field of five candidates in the November general election, neither Landry nor Boustany mustered more than 50 percent of the vote, a requirement to win.

Boustany, of Lafayette, captured 45 percent of the vote and Landry, from New Iberia, drew 30 percent.

In Louisiana's open primary system, all candidates for an office appear on the same ballot, regardless of party affiliation.

Boustany, considered a Republican moderate, raised $3 million for the general election campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

That was almost 50 percent more than Landry, who had backing from the conservative Tea Party movement for his support for smaller government.

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