The FTSE 100 hit 5,004 today for the first time since October 2008. It’s an important psychological marker that will form the basis of debate over the future of the economy in the coming days.

Back in November I spotted that the FTSE had started to fluctuate around a mean of 4,200. In January I launched my personal FTSE 100 Confidence Project investing £1,000 in a FTSE tracker. I’ve used it as a mechanism to comment on the market in the intervening period.

• Saving for a rainy day: FTSE Confidence Project shows 10% profit in four months, 9 May
• Green shoots: update on the FTSE 100 confidence project, 4 April
• Reasons to be cheerful: green lights, FTSE £1k confidence project update, and lessons from a motivational speaker, 25 February
• In search of M&A opportunity in tech, media and telecoms, 30 January

Today I’ve banked £223 on my original investment. That’s 22 per cent growth in nine months. Equities have outperformed almost every other asset class during the last nine months.

Both Adam Parker and David Brain were quick to point out on Twitter that the FTSE 100 has been rubbish during the last years and that it is no higher than it was in 1994.

They are both absolutely spot on which is why if you are going to invest in equities you have to take a proactive approach and have a disciplined stop loss position.

This is why I’m now going to close my project and pull out my investment. To hope for further returns in a short period would be pushing my luck and I believe that the market is close to a normalised position.

If you think differently I would love to hear your views.