diff --git a/pipeline_lib/core/pipeline.py b/pipeline_lib/core/pipeline.py
index 5b4e63c..258890e 100644
--- a/pipeline_lib/core/pipeline.py
+++ b/pipeline_lib/core/pipeline.py
@@ -19,8 +19,6 @@ class Pipeline:
 
     def __init__(self, initial_data: Optional[DataContainer] = None):
         self.steps = []
-        if not all(isinstance(step, PipelineStep) for step in self.steps):
-            raise TypeError("All steps must be instances of PipelineStep")
         self.initial_data = initial_data
         self.save_path = None
         self.load_path = None
diff --git a/pipeline_lib/implementation/tabular/xgboost/fit_model.py b/pipeline_lib/implementation/tabular/xgboost/fit_model.py
index c2c834c..606e534 100644
--- a/pipeline_lib/implementation/tabular/xgboost/fit_model.py
+++ b/pipeline_lib/implementation/tabular/xgboost/fit_model.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import optuna
 import xgboost as xgb
+from joblib import dump
 from optuna.pruners import MedianPruner
 from sklearn.metrics import mean_absolute_error
 
@@ -79,6 +80,15 @@ def execute(self, data: DataContainer) -> DataContainer:
         importance = dict(sorted(importance.items(), key=lambda item: item[1], reverse=True))
         data[DataContainer.IMPORTANCE] = importance
 
+        # save model to disk
+        save_path = model_configs.get("save_path")
+
+        if save_path:
+            if not save_path.endswith(".joblib"):
+                raise ValueError("Only joblib format is supported for saving the model.")
+            self.logger.info(f"Saving the model to {save_path}")
+            dump(model, save_path)
+
         end_time = time.time()
         elapsed_time = end_time - start_time
         minutes = int(elapsed_time // 60)
diff --git a/pipeline_lib/implementation/tabular/xgboost/predict.py b/pipeline_lib/implementation/tabular/xgboost/predict.py
index f82323e..b0cd492 100644
--- a/pipeline_lib/implementation/tabular/xgboost/predict.py
+++ b/pipeline_lib/implementation/tabular/xgboost/predict.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import pandas as pd
+from joblib import load
 
 from pipeline_lib.core import DataContainer
 from pipeline_lib.core.steps import PredictStep
@@ -10,9 +11,16 @@ class XGBoostPredictStep(PredictStep):
     def execute(self, data: DataContainer) -> DataContainer:
         self.logger.debug("Obtaining predictions for XGBoost model.")
 
-        model = data[DataContainer.MODEL]
-        if model is None:
-            raise Exception("Model not trained yet.")
+        if not self.config:
+            raise ValueError("No prediction configs found.")
+
+        load_path = self.config.get("load_path")
+        if not load_path:
+            raise ValueError("No load path found in model_configs.")
+
+        if not load_path.endswith(".joblib"):
+            raise ValueError("Only joblib format is supported for loading the model.")
+        model = load(load_path)
 
         model_input = data[DataContainer.CLEAN]