diff --git a/src/shogun/base/AnyParameter.h b/src/shogun/base/AnyParameter.h
index c5b138aff6d..17b83b660b4 100644
--- a/src/shogun/base/AnyParameter.h
+++ b/src/shogun/base/AnyParameter.h
@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@
 #define __ANYPARAMETER_H__
 
 #include <shogun/lib/any.h>
+#include <shogun/io/CerealVisitor.h>
 
+#include <memory>
 #include <string>
 
 namespace shogun
@@ -67,7 +69,7 @@ namespace shogun
 		template<class Archive>
 		void serialize(Archive& ar)
 		{
-			ar(m_model_selection, m_gradient);
+			ar(m_description, m_model_selection, m_gradient);
 		}
 
 	private:
@@ -122,14 +124,20 @@ namespace shogun
 			return !(*this == other);
 		}
 
-		/** serialize the object using cereal
-		 *
-		 * @param ar Archive type
-		 */
-		template<class Archive>
-		void serialize(Archive& ar)
+		template <class Archive>
+		void cereal_save(Archive& ar) const
+		{
+			std::unique_ptr<CerealWriterVisitor<Archive>> visitor(new CerealWriterVisitor<Archive>(ar));
+			m_value.visit(visitor.get());
+			ar(m_properties);
+		}
+
+		template <class Archive>
+		void cereal_load(Archive& ar)
 		{
-			ar(m_value, m_properties);
+			std::unique_ptr<CerealReaderVisitor<Archive>> visitor(new CerealReaderVisitor<Archive>(ar));
+			m_value.visit(visitor.get());
+			ar(m_properties);
 		}
 
 	private:
diff --git a/src/shogun/base/SGObject.cpp b/src/shogun/base/SGObject.cpp
index b2c9c48f115..94cc1114f1b 100644
--- a/src/shogun/base/SGObject.cpp
+++ b/src/shogun/base/SGObject.cpp
@@ -244,74 +244,6 @@ int32_t CSGObject::unref()
 	}
 }
 
-void CSGObject::save_binary(const char* filename) const
-{
-	std::ofstream os(filename);
-	cereal::BinaryOutputArchive archive(os);
-	archive(cereal::make_nvp(this->get_name(), *this));
-}
-
-void CSGObject::save_json(const char* filename) const
-{
-	std::ofstream os(filename);
-	cereal::JSONOutputArchive archive(os);
-	archive(cereal::make_nvp(this->get_name(), *this));
-}
-
-void CSGObject::save_xml(const char* filename) const
-{
-	std::ofstream os(filename);
-	cereal::XMLOutputArchive archive(os);
-	archive(cereal::make_nvp(this->get_name(), *this));
-}
-
-void CSGObject::load_binary(const char* filename)
-{
-	std::ifstream is(filename);
-	cereal::BinaryInputArchive archive(is);
-	archive(*this);
-}
-
-void CSGObject::load_json(const char* filename)
-{
-	std::ifstream is(filename);
-	cereal::JSONInputArchive archive(is);
-	archive(*this);
-}
-
-void CSGObject::load_xml(const char* filename)
-{
-	std::ifstream is(filename);
-	cereal::XMLInputArchive archive(is);
-	archive(*this);
-}
-
-template <class Archive>
-void CSGObject::cereal_save(Archive& ar) const
-{
-	for (const auto& it : self->map)
-		ar(cereal::make_nvp(it.first.name(), it.second));
-}
-template void CSGObject::cereal_save<cereal::BinaryOutputArchive>(
-    cereal::BinaryOutputArchive& ar) const;
-template void CSGObject::cereal_save<cereal::JSONOutputArchive>(
-    cereal::JSONOutputArchive& ar) const;
-template void CSGObject::cereal_save<cereal::XMLOutputArchive>(
-    cereal::XMLOutputArchive& ar) const;
-
-template <class Archive>
-void CSGObject::cereal_load(Archive& ar)
-{
-	for (auto& it : self->map)
-		ar(it.second);
-}
-template void CSGObject::cereal_load<cereal::BinaryInputArchive>(
-    cereal::BinaryInputArchive& ar);
-template void
-CSGObject::cereal_load<cereal::JSONInputArchive>(cereal::JSONInputArchive& ar);
-template void
-CSGObject::cereal_load<cereal::XMLInputArchive>(cereal::XMLInputArchive& ar);
-
 #ifdef TRACE_MEMORY_ALLOCS
 #include <shogun/lib/Map.h>
 extern CMap<void*, shogun::MemoryBlock>* sg_mallocs;
@@ -899,23 +831,23 @@ class ToStringVisitor : public AnyVisitor
 	{
 	}
 
-	virtual void on(const bool* v)
+	virtual void on(bool* v)
 	{
 		stream() << (*v ? "true" : "false");
 	}
-	virtual void on(const int32_t* v)
+	virtual void on(int32_t* v)
 	{
 		stream() << *v;
 	}
-	virtual void on(const int64_t* v)
+	virtual void on(int64_t* v)
 	{
 		stream() << *v;
 	}
-	virtual void on(const float* v)
+	virtual void on(float* v)
 	{
 		stream() << *v;
 	}
-	virtual void on(const double* v)
+	virtual void on(double* v)
 	{
 		stream() << *v;
 	}
@@ -923,7 +855,7 @@ class ToStringVisitor : public AnyVisitor
 	{
 		stream() << *v;
 	}
-	virtual void on(const CSGObject** v)
+	virtual void on(CSGObject** v)
 	{
 		if (*v)
 		{
@@ -934,27 +866,27 @@ class ToStringVisitor : public AnyVisitor
 			stream() << "null";
 		}
 	}
-	virtual void on(const SGVector<int>* v)
+	virtual void on(SGVector<int>* v)
 	{
 		to_string(v);
 	}
-	virtual void on(const SGVector<float>* v)
+	virtual void on(SGVector<float>* v)
 	{
 		to_string(v);
 	}
-	virtual void on(const SGVector<double>* v)
+	virtual void on(SGVector<double>* v)
 	{
 		to_string(v);
 	}
-	virtual void on(const SGMatrix<int>* mat)
+	virtual void on(SGMatrix<int>* mat)
 	{
 		to_string(mat);
 	}
-	virtual void on(const SGMatrix<float>* mat)
+	virtual void on(SGMatrix<float>* mat)
 	{
 		to_string(mat);
 	}
-	virtual void on(const SGMatrix<double>* mat)
+	virtual void on(SGMatrix<double>* mat)
 	{
 		to_string(mat);
 	}
@@ -966,7 +898,7 @@ class ToStringVisitor : public AnyVisitor
 	}
 
 	template <class T>
-	void to_string(const SGMatrix<T>* m)
+	void to_string(SGMatrix<T>* m)
 	{
 		if (m)
 		{
@@ -990,7 +922,7 @@ class ToStringVisitor : public AnyVisitor
 	}
 
 	template <class T>
-	void to_string(const SGVector<T>* v)
+	void to_string(SGVector<T>* v)
 	{
 		if (v)
 		{
diff --git a/src/shogun/base/SGObject.h b/src/shogun/base/SGObject.h
index 0f8325d2656..8b82639a55e 100644
--- a/src/shogun/base/SGObject.h
+++ b/src/shogun/base/SGObject.h
@@ -141,55 +141,67 @@ class CSGObject
 	virtual ~CSGObject();
 
 #ifndef SWIG // SWIG should skip this part
-		     /** serializes the SGObject to a binary file
-		      *
-		      * @param filename Binary archive filename
-		      */
-	void save_binary(const char* filename) const;
-
-	/** serializes the SGObject to a JSON file
-	 *
-	 * @param filename JSON archive filename
-	 */
-	void save_json(const char* filename) const;
-
-	/** serializes the SGObject to a XML file
-	 *
-	 * @param filename XML archive filename
-	 */
-	void save_xml(const char* filename) const;
-
-	/** loads SGObject from a Binary file
-	 *
-	 * @param filename Binary archive filename
-	 */
-	void load_binary(const char* filename);
-
-	/** loads SGObject from a JSON file
-	 *
-	 * @param filename JSON archive filename
-	 */
-	void load_json(const char* filename);
-
-	/** loads SGObject from a XML file
-	 *
-	 * @param filename XML archive filename
-	 */
-	void load_xml(const char* filename);
-
 	/** serializes SGObject parameters to Archive with Cereal
 	 *
 	 * @param ar Archive
 	 */
 	template <class Archive>
-	void cereal_save(Archive& ar) const;
+	void cereal_save(Archive& ar) const
+	{
+		std::string class_name(get_name());
+		ar(class_name, m_generic);
+		auto param_names = parameter_names();
+		ar(param_names.size());
+		for (auto param_name: param_names)
+		{
+			ar(param_name);
+			BaseTag tag(param_name);
+			ar(get_parameter(tag));
+		}
+	}
 
 	/** loads SGObject parameters from Archive with Cereal
 	 *
 	 * @param ar Archive
 	 */
 	template <class Archive>
-	void cereal_load(Archive& ar);
+	void cereal_load(Archive& ar)
+	{
+		size_t num_param_names;
+		try
+		{
+			ar(num_param_names);
+		}
+		catch(const std::exception& e)
+		{
+			std::string name;
+			EPrimitiveType p_type;
+			ar(name, p_type);
+
+			if (name.compare(std::string(get_name())) != 0)
+				throw ShogunException(
+					"cannot deserialize the object from file as num parameters does not match!");
+			ar(num_param_names);
+		}
+		auto param_names = parameter_names();
+		if (param_names.size() != num_param_names)
+			throw ShogunException(
+				"cannot deserialize the object from file as num parameters does not match!");
+
+		for (size_t i = 0; i < num_param_names; ++i)
+		{
+			std::string param_name;
+			ar(param_name);
+			if (!has(param_name))
+				throw ShogunException(
+					"cannot deserialize the object from file!");
+
+			BaseTag tag(param_name);
+			auto parameter = get_parameter(tag);
+			ar(parameter);
+			update_parameter(tag, parameter.get_value());
+		}
+	}
 #endif // #ifndef SWIG // SWIG should skip this part
 
 	/** increase reference counter
diff --git a/src/shogun/base/class_list.h b/src/shogun/base/class_list.h
index 2f52468ed5c..accd7e19f27 100644
--- a/src/shogun/base/class_list.h
+++ b/src/shogun/base/class_list.h
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 #include <string>
 
 namespace shogun {
-	class CSGObject;
 
 	/** new shogun instance
 	 * @param sgserializable_name
diff --git a/src/shogun/io/CerealVisitor.h b/src/shogun/io/CerealVisitor.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e2a59fd0c34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/shogun/io/CerealVisitor.h
@@ -0,0 +1,184 @@
+#ifndef __CEREAL_VISITOR_H__
+#define __CEREAL_VISITOR_H__
+
+#include <shogun/base/class_list.h>
+#include <shogun/lib/any.h>
+#include <shogun/io/SGIO.h>
+#include <shogun/lib/DataType.h>
+
+namespace shogun
+{
+
+template<class Archive>
+class CerealWriterVisitor : public AnyVisitor
+{
+public:
+	CerealWriterVisitor(Archive& ar) : AnyVisitor(), m_archive(ar)
+	{
+	}
+
+	virtual void on(bool* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("writing bool with value %d\n", *v)
+		m_archive(*v);
+	}
+	virtual void on(int32_t* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("writing int32_t with value %d\n", *v)
+		m_archive(*v);
+	}
+	virtual void on(int64_t* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("writing int64_t with value %d\n", *v)
+		m_archive(*v);
+	}
+	virtual void on(float* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("writing float with value %f\n", *v)
+		m_archive(*v);
+	}
+	virtual void on(double* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("writing double with value %f\n", *v)
+		m_archive(*v);
+	}
+	virtual void on(CSGObject** v)
+	{
+		if (*v)
+		{
+			SG_SDEBUG("writing SGObject with of type: %s\n", (*v)->get_name())
+			m_archive(**v);
+		}
+	}
+	virtual void on(SGVector<int>* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("writing SGVector<int>\n")
+		m_archive(*v);
+	}
+	virtual void on(SGVector<float>* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("writing SGVector<float>\n")
+		m_archive(*v);
+	}
+	virtual void on(SGVector<double>* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("writing SGVector<double>\n")
+		m_archive(*v);
+	}
+	virtual void on(SGMatrix<int>* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("writing SGMatrix<int>\n")
+		m_archive(*v);
+	}
+	virtual void on(SGMatrix<float>* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("writing SGMatrix<float>\n")
+		m_archive(*v);
+	}
+	virtual void on(SGMatrix<double>* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("writing SGMatrix<double>\n")
+		m_archive(*v);
+	}
+
+private:
+	Archive& m_archive;
+};
+
+template<class Archive>
+class CerealReaderVisitor : public AnyVisitor
+{
+public:
+	CerealReaderVisitor(Archive& ar) : AnyVisitor(), m_archive(ar)
+	{
+	}
+
+	virtual void on(bool* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("reading bool")
+		*v = deserialize<bool>();
+		SG_SDEBUG("%d\n", *v)
+	}
+	virtual void on(int32_t* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("reading int32_t")
+		*v = deserialize<int32_t>();
+		SG_SDEBUG("%d\n", *v)
+	}
+	virtual void on(int64_t* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("reading int64_t")
+		*v = deserialize<int64_t>();
+		SG_SDEBUG("%d\n", *v)
+	}
+	virtual void on(float* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("reading float: ")
+		*v = deserialize<float>();
+		SG_SDEBUG("%f\n", *v)
+	}
+	virtual void on(double* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("reading double: ")
+		*v = deserialize<double>();
+		SG_SDEBUG("%f\n", *v)
+	}
+	virtual void on(CSGObject** v)
+	{
+		if (*v)
+		{
+			SG_SDEBUG("reading SGObject: ")
+			std::string object_name;
+			EPrimitiveType primitive_type;
+			m_archive(object_name, primitive_type);
+			SG_SDEBUG("%s %d\n", object_name, primitive_type)
+			*v = create(object_name, primitive_type);
+		}
+	}
+	virtual void on(SGVector<int>* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("reading SGVector<int>\n")
+		*v = deserialize<SGVector<int>>();
+	}
+	virtual void on(SGVector<float>* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("reading SGVector<float>\n")
+		*v = deserialize<SGVector<float>>();
+	}
+	virtual void on(SGVector<double>* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("reading SGVector<double>\n")
+		*v = deserialize<SGVector<double>>();
+	}
+	virtual void on(SGMatrix<int>* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("reading SGMatrix<int>>\n")
+		*v = deserialize<SGMatrix<int>>();
+	}
+	virtual void on(SGMatrix<float>* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("reading SGMatrix<float>>\n")
+		*v = deserialize<SGMatrix<float>>();
+	}
+	virtual void on(SGMatrix<double>* v)
+	{
+		SG_SDEBUG("reading SGMatrix<double>>\n")
+		*v = deserialize<SGMatrix<double>>();
+	}
+
+private:
+	template <typename T>
+	T deserialize()
+	{
+		T value;
+		m_archive(value);
+		return value;
+	}
+
+private:
+	Archive& m_archive;
+};
+
+}
+
+#endif
diff --git a/src/shogun/lib/SGMatrix.cpp b/src/shogun/lib/SGMatrix.cpp
index 48e4753716a..5d243ad5b4a 100644
--- a/src/shogun/lib/SGMatrix.cpp
+++ b/src/shogun/lib/SGMatrix.cpp
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
 #include <shogun/io/File.h>
 #include <shogun/lib/SGMatrix.h>
 #include <shogun/lib/SGVector.h>
-#include <shogun/mathematics/eigen3.h>
 #include <shogun/mathematics/Math.h>
 #include <shogun/mathematics/lapack.h>
 #include <limits>
@@ -24,6 +23,7 @@
 #include <cereal/cereal.hpp>
 #include <cereal/types/polymorphic.hpp>
 
+#include <shogun/mathematics/eigen3.h>
 namespace shogun
 {
 
@@ -1232,7 +1232,6 @@ template <class T>
 template <class Archive>
 void SGMatrix<T>::cereal_save(Archive& ar) const
 {
-	ar(cereal::base_class<SGReferencedData>(this));
 	ar(cereal::make_nvp("num_rows", num_rows));
 	ar(cereal::make_nvp("num_cols", num_cols));
 
@@ -1244,7 +1243,6 @@ template <>
 template <class Archive>
 void SGMatrix<complex128_t>::cereal_save(Archive& ar) const
 {
-	ar(cereal::base_class<SGReferencedData>(this));
 	ar(cereal::make_nvp("num_rows", num_rows));
 	ar(cereal::make_nvp("num_cols", num_cols));
 
@@ -1257,9 +1255,6 @@ template <class T>
 template <class Archive>
 void SGMatrix<T>::cereal_load(Archive& ar)
 {
-	unref();
-	ar(cereal::base_class<SGReferencedData>(this));
-
 	ar(num_rows);
 	ar(num_cols);
 	matrix = SG_MALLOC(T, num_rows * num_cols);
@@ -1271,9 +1266,6 @@ template <>
 template <class Archive>
 void SGMatrix<complex128_t>::cereal_load(Archive& ar)
 {
-	unref();
-	ar(cereal::base_class<SGReferencedData>(this));
-
 	ar(num_rows);
 	ar(num_cols);
 	matrix = SG_MALLOC(complex128_t, num_rows * num_cols);
diff --git a/src/shogun/lib/SGMatrix.h b/src/shogun/lib/SGMatrix.h
index 241737efbb9..573a8496e4d 100644
--- a/src/shogun/lib/SGMatrix.h
+++ b/src/shogun/lib/SGMatrix.h
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 /*
  * This software is distributed under BSD 3-clause license (see LICENSE file).
  *
- * Authors: Soeren Sonnenburg, Heiko Strathmann, Soumyajit De, Sergey Lisitsyn, 
- *          Pan Deng, Khaled Nasr, Michele Mazzoni, Viktor Gal, 
- *          Fernando Iglesias, Thoralf Klein, Chiyuan Zhang, Koen van de Sande, 
+ * Authors: Soeren Sonnenburg, Heiko Strathmann, Soumyajit De, Sergey Lisitsyn,
+ *          Pan Deng, Khaled Nasr, Michele Mazzoni, Viktor Gal,
+ *          Fernando Iglesias, Thoralf Klein, Chiyuan Zhang, Koen van de Sande,
  *          Roman Votyakov
  */
 #ifndef __SGMATRIX_H__
diff --git a/src/shogun/lib/SGReferencedData.cpp b/src/shogun/lib/SGReferencedData.cpp
index dd282495d17..76f6b9939fb 100644
--- a/src/shogun/lib/SGReferencedData.cpp
+++ b/src/shogun/lib/SGReferencedData.cpp
@@ -119,41 +119,4 @@ int32_t SGReferencedData::unref()
 	}
 }
 
-template <class Archive>
-void SGReferencedData::cereal_save(Archive& ar) const
-{
-	if (m_refcount != NULL)
-		ar(cereal::make_nvp("ref_counting", true),
-		   cereal::make_nvp("refcount number", m_refcount->ref_count()));
-	else
-		ar(cereal::make_nvp("ref_counting", false));
-}
-template void SGReferencedData::cereal_save<cereal::BinaryOutputArchive>(
-	cereal::BinaryOutputArchive& ar) const;
-template void SGReferencedData::cereal_save<cereal::JSONOutputArchive>(
-	cereal::JSONOutputArchive& ar) const;
-template void SGReferencedData::cereal_save<cereal::XMLOutputArchive>(
-	cereal::XMLOutputArchive& ar) const;
-
-template <class Archive>
-void SGReferencedData::cereal_load(Archive& ar)
-{
-	bool ref_counting;
-	ar(ref_counting);
-
-	if (ref_counting)
-	{
-		int32_t temp;
-		ar(temp);
-		m_refcount = new RefCount(temp);
-	}
-	else
-		m_refcount = NULL;
-}
-template void SGReferencedData::cereal_load<cereal::BinaryInputArchive>(
-	cereal::BinaryInputArchive& ar);
-template void SGReferencedData::cereal_load<cereal::JSONInputArchive>(
-	cereal::JSONInputArchive& ar);
-template void SGReferencedData::cereal_load<cereal::XMLInputArchive>(
-	cereal::XMLInputArchive& ar);
-}
+} // namespace shogun
diff --git a/src/shogun/lib/SGReferencedData.h b/src/shogun/lib/SGReferencedData.h
index d8e5abf9a5b..ad6093911be 100644
--- a/src/shogun/lib/SGReferencedData.h
+++ b/src/shogun/lib/SGReferencedData.h
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*
  * This software is distributed under BSD 3-clause license (see LICENSE file).
  *
- * Authors: Soeren Sonnenburg, Sergey Lisitsyn, Yuyu Zhang, 
+ * Authors: Soeren Sonnenburg, Sergey Lisitsyn, Yuyu Zhang,
  *          Evangelos Anagnostopoulos
  */
 #ifndef __SGREFERENCED_DATA_H__
@@ -41,14 +41,6 @@ class SGReferencedData
 		 */
 		int32_t ref_count();
 
-#ifndef SWIG // SWIG should skip this part
-		template <class Archive>
-		void cereal_save(Archive& ar) const;
-
-		template <class Archive>
-		void cereal_load(Archive& ar);
-#endif //#ifndef SWIG // SWIG should skip this part
-
 	protected:
 		/** copy refcount */
 		void copy_refcount(const SGReferencedData &orig);
diff --git a/src/shogun/lib/SGVector.cpp b/src/shogun/lib/SGVector.cpp
index 159f1e9ef4e..679565062b5 100644
--- a/src/shogun/lib/SGVector.cpp
+++ b/src/shogun/lib/SGVector.cpp
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 /*
  * This software is distributed under BSD 3-clause license (see LICENSE file).
  *
- * Authors: Soeren Sonnenburg, Viktor Gal, Heiko Strathmann, Fernando Iglesias, 
- *          Sanuj Sharma, Pan Deng, Sergey Lisitsyn, Thoralf Klein, 
- *          Soumyajit De, Michele Mazzoni, Evgeniy Andreev, Chiyuan Zhang, 
- *          Bjoern Esser, Weijie Lin, Khaled Nasr, Koen van de Sande, 
+ * Authors: Soeren Sonnenburg, Viktor Gal, Heiko Strathmann, Fernando Iglesias,
+ *          Sanuj Sharma, Pan Deng, Sergey Lisitsyn, Thoralf Klein,
+ *          Soumyajit De, Michele Mazzoni, Evgeniy Andreev, Chiyuan Zhang,
+ *          Bjoern Esser, Weijie Lin, Khaled Nasr, Koen van de Sande,
  *          Somya Anand
  */
 
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 #include <limits>
 #include <shogun/mathematics/Math.h>
 #include <shogun/mathematics/lapack.h>
-#include <shogun/mathematics/linalg/LinalgNamespace.h>
 
 #include <cereal/archives/binary.hpp>
 #include <cereal/archives/json.hpp>
@@ -27,6 +26,8 @@
 #include <cereal/cereal.hpp>
 #include <cereal/types/polymorphic.hpp>
 
+#include <shogun/mathematics/linalg/LinalgNamespace.h>
+
 #define COMPLEX128_ERROR_NOARG(function) \
 template <> \
 void SGVector<complex128_t>::function() \
@@ -978,8 +979,6 @@ template <class T>
 template <class Archive>
 void SGVector<T>::cereal_save(Archive& ar) const
 {
-	ar(cereal::make_nvp(
-		"ReferencedData", cereal::base_class<SGReferencedData>(this)));
 	ar(cereal::make_nvp("length", vlen));
 	for (index_t i = 0; i < vlen; ++i)
 		ar(vector[i]);
@@ -989,9 +988,7 @@ template <>
 template <class Archive>
 void SGVector<complex128_t>::cereal_save(Archive& ar) const
 {
-	ar(cereal::base_class<SGReferencedData>(this));
 	ar(cereal::make_nvp("length", vlen));
-
 	float64_t* temp = reinterpret_cast<float64_t*>(vector);
 	for (index_t i = 0; i < vlen * 2; ++i)
 		ar(temp[i]);
@@ -1001,9 +998,6 @@ template <class T>
 template <class Archive>
 void SGVector<T>::cereal_load(Archive& ar)
 {
-	unref();
-	ar(cereal::base_class<SGReferencedData>(this));
-
 	ar(vlen);
 	vector = SG_MALLOC(T, vlen);
 	for (index_t i = 0; i < vlen; ++i)
@@ -1014,9 +1008,6 @@ template <>
 template <class Archive>
 void SGVector<complex128_t>::cereal_load(Archive& ar)
 {
-	unref();
-	ar(cereal::base_class<SGReferencedData>(this));
-
 	ar(vlen);
 	vector = SG_MALLOC(complex128_t, vlen);
 	float64_t* temp = reinterpret_cast<float64_t*>(vector);
diff --git a/src/shogun/lib/any.h b/src/shogun/lib/any.h
index 0db9a51e74e..2de233062f1 100644
--- a/src/shogun/lib/any.h
+++ b/src/shogun/lib/any.h
@@ -170,18 +170,18 @@ namespace shogun
 	public:
 		virtual ~AnyVisitor() = default;
 
-		virtual void on(const bool*) = 0;
-		virtual void on(const int32_t*) = 0;
-		virtual void on(const int64_t*) = 0;
-		virtual void on(const float*) = 0;
-		virtual void on(const double*) = 0;
-		virtual void on(const CSGObject**) = 0;
-		virtual void on(const SGVector<int>*) = 0;
-		virtual void on(const SGVector<float>*) = 0;
-		virtual void on(const SGVector<double>*) = 0;
-		virtual void on(const SGMatrix<int>*) = 0;
-		virtual void on(const SGMatrix<float>*) = 0;
-		virtual void on(const SGMatrix<double>*) = 0;
+		virtual void on(bool*) = 0;
+		virtual void on(int32_t*) = 0;
+		virtual void on(int64_t*) = 0;
+		virtual void on(float*) = 0;
+		virtual void on(double*) = 0;
+		virtual void on(CSGObject**) = 0;
+		virtual void on(SGVector<int>*) = 0;
+		virtual void on(SGVector<float>*) = 0;
+		virtual void on(SGVector<double>*) = 0;
+		virtual void on(SGMatrix<int>*) = 0;
+		virtual void on(SGMatrix<float>*) = 0;
+		virtual void on(SGMatrix<double>*) = 0;
 
 		void on(Empty*)
 		{
@@ -590,7 +590,7 @@ namespace shogun
 		 */
 		virtual void visit(void* storage, AnyVisitor* visitor) const
 		{
-			visitor->on(typed_pointer<T>(storage));
+			visitor->on(const_cast<T*>(typed_pointer<T>(storage)));
 		}
 	};
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/io/Cereal_unittest.cc b/tests/unit/io/Cereal_unittest.cc
index 1e7f1e09127..0e621ac16e0 100644
--- a/tests/unit/io/Cereal_unittest.cc
+++ b/tests/unit/io/Cereal_unittest.cc
@@ -162,9 +162,22 @@ TEST(Cereal, Json_CerealObject_load_equals_saved)
 
 	std::string filename = std::tmpnam(nullptr);
 
-	obj_save.save_json(filename.c_str());
+	try
+	{
+		{
+			std::ofstream os(filename.c_str());
+			cereal::JSONOutputArchive archive(os);
+			archive(obj_save);
+		}
+
+		{
+			std::ifstream is(filename.c_str());
+			cereal::JSONInputArchive archive(is);
+			archive(obj_load);
+		}
+	}
+	catch (std::exception& e) SG_SINFO("Error code: %s \n", e.what());
 
-	obj_load.load_json(filename.c_str());
 	B = obj_load.get<SGVector<float64_t>>("test_vector");
 
 	EXPECT_EQ(A.size(), B.size());