It took about 3 days total running time to download the client.
274118 Blocks of Transactions
 A little over 14 Gig of memory.

In regards to online/light wallets, again it's security vs convenience. An attacker(s) would most likely go first after where the big loot is (online storage as noted in a sample of links - first post) and second after individuals.

Some of  most secure option from what I've read so far point towards, dedicated computer (keep it off line when not transacting) USB storage - remove wallet.dat from main, and recopy when transact then remove?, and paper.

Thanks for the replies.