You can easily have up to $1.25 million insured at one bank by naming your account "payable on death" and filling out a simple one page form naming 4 beneficiaries: https://www.fdic.gov/resources/deposit-insurance/brochures/d...
Doesn't this quote mean your method would only let a single person have 500k insured? Since any third account that names a second POD beneficiary would be considered a revocable trust and there is a limit of 250k for all of one person's revocable trusts (page 3)?
The $250k applies per ownership category for each owner, and a recipient of a trust is not considered an owner for these purposes.
""" When a revocable trust owner names five or fewer beneficiaries, the owner’s trust deposits are insured up to $250,000 for each unique beneficiary.
This rule applies to the combined interests of all beneficiaries the owner has named in all formal and informal revocable trust accounts at the same bank. When there are five or fewer beneficiaries, maximum deposit insurance coverage for each trust owner is determined by multiplying $250,000 times the number of unique beneficiaries, regardless of the dollar amount or percentage allotted to each unique beneficiary. Therefore, a revocable trust with one owner and five unique beneficiaries is insured up to $1,250,000. """