I've been around the block with Bitcoin and have always used blockchain.info to store my funds. I grow increasingly paranoid, though and am moving to a desktop client. My choice is Electrum because of its security and lack of needing to download the blockchain. I just have a few questions first.

-Does Electrum require my password to send funds to another address? (I don't want my family to be able to access my Bitcoins.)
-Can I do cold storage?
-Is Electrum really a safe client to use? (Up to like 5 BTC)
-Is my wallet secure?

If anyone can answer my questions, it would be greatly appreciated.