You don't need to slow things down with VPN.
RWA and RDP are the single two best, most secure connections.
But...you don't want to use port forwarding any more if you have servers 2008 and higher. No matter how well it works, using a Remote Gateway is 50 times better. It's simply Old School. Windows 2000 works, but it isn't Win 7.
And, please have your friend tell us how it isn't secure.
