Baby boomers may have driven three decades of growth, and their spending power is still a big part of the economy, but it’s the Gen Ys you want to watch.

According to the experts at Retail Forward, the baby boomers who've been driving the economy for several decades, will be spending less because they have too much to recoup before retirement. Gen X consumers may spend more in the coming months, but it’s likely to be on things they haven’t bought during the recession. They’re also home owners and kid raisers, so they may not have a ton of extra cash.

Why Gen Y? They've been impacted by the recession less, the oldest among them is about age 28 and moving into an income-generating but not debt-building stage of life.