FDIC insurance rules can be confusing.

Because coverage limits are per person, and retirement accounts, joint accounts and trust accounts are treated separately, there are ways to have much more than $100,000 on deposit at a single institution and still be fully insured.

In 2006, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. raised the maximum coverage on retirement accounts to $250,000, up from $100,000. The cap on nonretirement accounts remained at $100,000.

A married couple with no children, for example, could have up to $1.1 million in deposits fully insured: $100,000 each in individual accounts; $200,000 in a joint account; $250,000 each in individual retirement accounts, plus $100,000 each in a trust account naming the spouse the beneficiary.

For a couple with two children, both the husband and wife could open a $100,000 trust account for each child for an additional $400,000 worth of coverage, or a total of $1.5 million in deposits fully insured.

Coverage does not apply to investments, meaning the FDIC does not insure money in mutual funds, stocks, bonds, life insurance policies or annuities, even if they were purchased from an FDIC-insured institution.

• To find out if your money is covered, try the FDIC's Electronic Deposit Estimator at www.fdic.gov, or ask the agency by calling 1-877-275-3342.