The other day I received a phone call from a former client's child whose mother's condition had changed from the time we did planning for her mother.  Through the conversation I was able to point out opportunities for saving a significant portion of the mother's assets, about $200,000, and qualify her immediately for about $1,000 per month in new benefits.  She was excited to learn this until she asked about the fee and discovered it would cost between $5,000 and$8,000 to implement this planning.  She concluded the call with,"I'll think about it," which is usually polite speak for "no."  Sadly, this client, by refusing to spend now the equivalent of about 1 and a half months cost of a nursing home room, is going to miss out on over $12,000 per year in immediate benefits and the ability to save over $100,000 in assets.  Her focus was on the cost of planning rather than the value that she would receive from that fee.  Sadly, the cost of her failure to plan will result in significantly greater loss to her than the cost of planning.